Marauders One Shots
by Fallen Crest
Summary: A series of one shots centered around the Marauders: Peter hate him , Remus, Sirius, and James. Why? Because I love the Marauders except for Peter. All of these have to deal with the Marauders in someway. No romance because I can't write that stuff.
1. One Shot 1: Friends

**A/N: I had no idea how to end so this is where I decided to end it. Don't insult the ending. You will upset me.**

**Series of one shots focused around the Marauders. These are in no specific order. They are in the order that they come from. I'll put the year the one shot takes place in at the beginning of each one shot.**

**Year 1**

**One Shot #1: Friends**

It was a dream come true for him. Being able to come to Hogwarts didn't feel like a possibility for him. He was not suppose to be able to come to Hogwarts. There wasn't supposed to be a chance for him to attend any type of school. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster to the school he really wanted to attend. Only Dumbledore would allow someone like Remus to go to Hogwarts.

Remus J. Lupin is a wizard. Being a wizard was not why Remus was worried about not being able to attend Hogwarts since Hogwarts is a school where young witches and wizards go to so they can train to be full witches and wizards.

What Remus was worried about was that he was a werewolf. At age nine, Remus was bitten by a werewolf and ever since then, one a month, he transforms into a werewolf. The transformation is so painful that most people don't survive their first transformation. Werewolves are really dangerous to humans. They can kill humans or bite humans to make them werewolves too.

No school would ever accept a werewolf as a student because of all the danger. A werewolf could bite one of the students during the full moon. The school and the werewolf could get into a lot of trouble for that. The Headmaster could get fired for allowing a werewolf into the school in the first place.

This is one of the very reasons that Remus thinks his Headmaster is insane. He let a werewolf into his school.

Remus wants to make his parents proud and the Headmaster too. He wants to prove that he can be a good student and get grades, despite the monster in him.

No one can find out Remus's secret. If they did, they would abandon him like everyone else. As soon as they knew he was a werewolf, they shunned him. Because of this, Remus was shy and scared. He avoided everyone at school. At school, he had more to lose than just being shunned. If anyone found out the truth about him, they would tell the whole school and Remus would be expelled. Remus didn't want that. He wanted to learn all types of spells and prove that he could be a great wizard.

This was why Remus felt so alone. He refused to make friends. They could find out his secret, shun him, and tell the whole school what he was, which would get Remus expelled. Remus didn't want to go through that pain again.

Besides that, no one would ever want to be his friend. He came from a very poor family, everything he owned, except his wand, was second-hand, and he was considered somewhat of a freak. No one like him and would want to be his friend anyway.

Everyone ignored Remus and Remus ignored them in return. That was the way he liked it.

Everything was going fine for Remus until he noticed two boys halfway through his first year. These two boys, he noted, were two of his roommates for the next seven years. The first boy had messy black hair, brown eyes and glasses. His name was James Potter. The other had long black hair and grey eyes. His name was Sirius Black. Remus never spoke to either of them. They were both troublemakers and were always in detention.

Remus was in the library the first time he noticed them watching him. Those two never came into the library, so it puzzled Remus to see them there. They sat a few tables away from him. Remus was trying to do his homework, but felt their eyes on him.

Every time Remus looked at them, he saw them looking at him. They didn't even bother looking away. They didn't care that they got caught staring at him.

Wherever Remus went after that, he saw those two boys watching him. In the library, they just sat a few tables away from him and watched him. In class, they sat at the empty desk in behind him and watched him. At meals, he found them watching him still.

Remus was starting to get annoyed. He scowled at them whenever he caught them looking now. He knew they were up to something. They were pranksters and he was a lonely boy with no friends. They wouldn't take an interest in him unless they were planning something.

After two months of watching him, James and Sirius approached Remus in the library. James sat next to Remus and Sirius sat across from Remus.

Remus knew they were there, but was trying to ignore them. He didn't want anything to do with these boys.  
>"Hey, it's Lupin, right?" The one called James asked.<p>

Remus sighed in annoyance. "Yes."

James nodded his head. "I'm James Potter and this is my best mate, Sirius Black."

"And?" Remus asked with annoyance clear in his tone. He was trying to study for a potion test. Potions was his worst subjected so he needed all the study time he could get for the class.

"Look, we're trying to be friendly. You don't need to use that tone with us." Sirius replied agitated.

Remus put his quill down. He stared at Sirius through narrowed eyes. "And why are you being friendly to me?"

James and Sirius looked at him surprised.

"Well, we're going to be roommates for the next seven years, so can't we be friendly?" James asked, glancing at Sirius.

Remus rolled his eyes. "You've ignored me for the first six months, then started watching me for two months. I am perfectly fine with the system of being ignored by everyone for seven years. We can just ignore each other for the next seven years and everything will be fine."

Even as Remus said this, he knew it wasn't true. Nothing would be fine. Being ignored by everyone is really lonely. Eventually the loneliness would get to Remus and his grades would start to drop because he would start to stop caring because he was so lonely.

Sirius snorted. "If you really believe that, then you are an idiot. No one likes being alone."

Remus glared at him.

"Anyway, Remus, we're going to be roommates for seven years and you need some friends. We've seen that you are always by yourself. You must be really bored and lonely because we noticed that you spend all your free time in the library." James said.

"That's not true, James. What about those few times where we lost track of him for a few days at a time?" Sirius asked.

"Awww, look at that, I have my very own stalkers." Remus said very sarcastically.

James and Sirius laughed. "You're alright, Lupin."

Remus rolled his eyes. "What do you two really want?"

James smirked. "Well, you see, there is this Slytherin by the name of Snivellus Snape…."

"Severus," Remus corrected.

"So, you know him?" Sirius said.

James planted his hands on the table. "Well, Lupin, you see, we think he's a slimy git and we refuse to call him by his name so we call him Snivellus. But that is not the matter at hand. The matter at hand is that he is a slimy git who needs to be taught a lesson."

"And why are you coming to me with this? You both do perfectly fine in tormenting the students and teachers on your own." Remus replied nonchalantly. He put his elbows on the table and folded his hands over each other in the air and rested his chin on them as he stared at the two boys with bored, calm eyes.

James and Sirius saw this look and smirked.

"You know, Lupin, you are pretty cool, especially with your calm composure that you always seem to have, no matter what the situation." James said, looking at Sirius.

Remus smirked. "It's called emotionally control, something neither of you have."

James snorted. "We can to keep control of our emotions."

"In what world? From what I've seen of you two, neither of you have any type of emotionally control." Remus replied.

James raised a brow with a smirk on his lips. "So, you've been watching us just as much as we've been watching you?"

"In your dreams, Potter." Remus replied.

James frowned. "I would never dream of another guy watching me."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I know how you two act because we are roommates and you two always have to be the center of attention. It's not hard to figure you two out. It's probably why you are always caught doing pranks."

"Yes, our pranks are absolutely wonderful, but you see, we have a problem." Sirius said.

"Oh no! The two smartest, brightest, best wizards in the world have a problem! This is such a tragic event." Remus mockingly. "Well, get used to it. Everyone has problems."

"Yes, and I think I figured yours out." Sirius said.

Remus's eyes flashed nervously to Sirius. _Relax Remus. Don't lose your composure. There is no where he is talking about your lycanthropy. They haven't paid you enough attention to know about it._

"You are very sarcastic." Sirius continued. "You should work on that. Only use your sarcasm to people who deserve it."

"Funny, I thought I was." Remus replied.

James snickered. "He's using it again."

"Lupin, this is a serious matter at hand." Sirius said.

Remus smirked. "How can a matter be 'Sirius'?"

Sirius glared at him. "Don't you dare use that pun!"

"Apparently, only Sirius is allowed to use the Sirius pun." James laughed.

Sirius slammed his hand on the table. "James, take this seriously. We have revenge we need to install."

"Right you are, Sirius." James nodded his head and turned back to Remus. "You see, Lupin, our problem is that we need a great idea to use against Snivellus."

"The world must be coming to an end! The prank master asking lonely, loopy, Lupin for a prank idea." Remus said.

James and Sirius stared at him. "You are very sarcastic, you know that?"

"Got do something for my entertainment." Remus replied.

"Right, well, we're asking for you help because we need another brain to help us come up with a great idea. We felt you could be the one to help us with that. We didn't choose our other roommate because he doesn't seem that smart and he might blab our plans out to someone. And we would never choose someone from another house or someone older than us. This plan has to be all Gryffindor and just us first years." James said.

Remus leaned back in his chair. "So, you want me to come up for a prank for you?"

"Yes." James and Sirius replied together.

Remus stared at them. "Creepy." He sat up straight. "I'm not a prankster so I can't help you."

Sirius snorted. "Like I'll every believe that. With all the sarcastic remarks you just shot at us, I find it very hard that you don't have any creative ideas you can give us to torture Snivellus with."

"Why do you want to prank Snape anyway?" Remus asked.

"He's a nosy git and he got us detention," James said.

"And he's a Slytherin." Sirius added.

"That too. He got us detention for something we didn't do, so we're going to give McGonagall a reason to give us detention." James said.

Remus raised a brow. "Then why have you been stalking me for two months?"

"We didn't just want to approach you right away with our question." Sirius said.

"So, you thought it was much better to stalk me?" Remus asked.

James and Sirius grinned evilly. "We saw that it was annoying you, so we just kept it up. We also did it to learn more about you. You read a lot so we thought you might know some good spells or potions to help us against Snivellus."

Remus shook his head. "Fine, I've been wanting my own revenge against him anyway, but I don't know how much help I can be. I've never pulled a prank before."

"Why do you want revenge?" Sirius asked.

"Let's just say we aren't on the best of terms. I sit near him in potions and he wasn't really happy when my potion exploded and covered in it and he had to go to the Hospital Wing. Potion isn't my best subject. I really suck at it. Anyway, since then, he's felt the need to insult me at any chance he gets." Remus said indifferently.

Sirius's and James's eyes lit up mischievously. "Oh, he will pay."

Sirius looked at the book Remus was reading. "Since you suck at potions, let us help you. We're really good at it. We'll be able to get your grade up in the class."

Remus raised a brow. "I said I suck at potions. I didn't say I was failing."

James chuckled nervously. "We kind of snuck into Slughorn's office and looked at your grade. Don't worry about it. We'll get your grade up."

"Ever heard of privacy?" Remus asked dryly.

"No, what is this privacy you speak of?" Sirius asked.

Remus just shook his head, exasperated.

"So, Lupin, what did you get on the potion's test?" Sirius asked as the three boys left potions.

"I got an E." Remus replied.

"Better than what you used to get." James grinned. He looked around before lowing his voice. "Everything for our prank is ready. You sure this will work, Lupin?"

Remus nodded his head. "Yeah, I checked everything. Nothing will go wrong, well, as long as you guys did everything right."

"Do you doubt us?" Sirius asked offended.

Remus snorted. "Well, seeing as I've only been speaking to you for two days, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't doubt you."

"You hurt us, Lupin." James said this dramatically as he put a hand over his heart.

Remus rolled his eyes. "As long as you two leave me alone after this." He walked away from the two boys as he said this.

James and Sirius sent a smirk at each other before running to catch up with Remus. "Are you kidding? If this works, we're friends for your life. It's an ingenious plan, Lupin. We need a mind like yours to help us with our pranks."

Remus groaned. "What did I get myself stuck in?"

"A friendship for life!" James said.

Remus rolled his eyes, but had a smile on his face. "Great."

Dinner that night was very eventful. Remus was sitting a few feet away from James and Sirius, watching them carefully for the signal. He didn't seat next to him because James and Sirius told him that they didn't want anyone to know they were friends just yet. They wanted to use the prank against Snape as the event that was going to show their friendship. Remus just looked at them like they were idiots and went and sat by himself again.

It was midway through dinner when James sent the signal to Remus. Discreetly, Remus pulled his wand out and shot a spell at Snape. It was the spell to activate the potion that James and Sirius made and put in Snape's food a few minutes ago. James disappeared somehow and managed to put the potion in Snape's food. Remus would have to ask him how he did that later.

Snape instantly froze as he was about to put his fork in his mouth. His hand just turned to the color pink, then to green, then to orange, then to blue. His skin kept changing to different colors. After his skin changed a few times, Snape yelled in pain as painful red boils started to appear on his skin one by one. He jumped to his feet and began to rub his arms and faces. The boils were really hurting.

Sirius smirked and pulled his own wand out. "Just one more thing to make this better." Sirius whispered 'Tarantallegra.'

Snape's legs started to dance uncontrollably. And with him changing colors every three seconds and rubbing frantically at his body because of the painful boils, he was a really funny sight to see.

Everyone, except a few like Lily Evans, was laughing at the sight. None more than James and Sirius who both had tears of mirth running down their faces. Remus just chuckled a little at the sight.

McGonagall and Slughorn were not so amused. They both marched down from the Head Table angrily. As Slughorn stop Snape's legs and said he couldn't do anything about the color or boils and that Snape would need a potion, McGonagall turned to Sirius and James.

"Potter! Black! I know you two planned this!" McGonagall snapped.

James and Sirius sighed. They looked down the table and smiled at Remus, who nodded his head to show it was okay to tell her.

"Minnie, Minnie, Minnie," Sirius shook his head, sadly. "As much as we would love to claim this idea as our own, we cannot. We were not the ones who planned this."

McGonagall glared at Sirius. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Do not call me Minnie! And whose idea was it if you were not the ones to plan it?"

Remus took that as his cue and stood up. He moved down to James and Sirius and sat on top of the table next to Sirius. "Dear McGonagall, this plan was all mine."

"Mr. Lupin!" McGonagall said shocked.

"Yes?" Remus asked innocently.

McGonagall stared between the calm, smiling Remus and the two smirking boys, who looked ready to burst out of laughing. She smiled a little. She was glad that Remus finally got friends. She always saw him off by himself and it saddened her. She just wished he didn't make friends with the two biggest troublemakers in first year. "Mr. Lupin, I will let you off with a warning and twenty points from Gryffindor since this is your first offense. Don't expect me to be so lenient next time."

Remus smiled and nodded his head at her.

McGonagall went back up the Head Table to continue her meal, a smile at her lips. She never cared that Remus was a werewolf. Sure she was a little nervous to allow him to attend Hogwarts at first, but everyone who knew was. Being a werewolf doesn't mean that Remus shouldn't get the chance to be a kid.

Remus smiled at his friends.

"We've never been able to get away with pranks. McGonagall must like you. Maybe you can get her to lessen our punishments." Sirius said, grinning.

"Yeah, nice going, Lupin," James replied.

"Call me Remus, Potter, Black. We are, after all, friends." Remus replied.

James and Sirius grinned. "That we are, Remus, so that means you must call me, James and him, Sirius."


	2. One Shot 2: Cleaning

**Please review!**

**Marauders One Shots**

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**Year 4**

**One shot #2: Cleaning**

Remus threw some clothes into a bag with his toothbrush. He grabbed his book bag, wand, and his bag. He shot a glance at his sleeping friends and their messy room. His friends were so messy. The room smelled horrible now because of his messy friends. Remus finally decided to do something about their messy room. His friends were going to kill him though with this plan.

After making sure his friends were still asleep, Remus started to tiptoe out of the room. He stepped over a pile of clothes on the ground in the middle of the room. His friends threw all their clothes onto the ground, instead of into the hamper like normal people. When he stepped over the clothes, he put his foot on a squeaky board. Remus froze in moving to look at each of his friends.

Peter continued to sleep like a log. James rolled over in his sleep, waving his hand in the air at the annoying sound. Sirius snorted in his sleep and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow.

Sighing in relief, Remus continued on his way to the door. He had to dodge a few more things that his friends abandoned on the ground. When he reached the door, Remus took another glance around the room. He looked into the corner of the room that belonged to Peter. He was disgusted at the sight of discarded wrappers and food surrounding the bed. Sirius had discarded clothes, parchments, pranking supplies, and other junk around his bed. Looking at James's area, Remus saw that it wasn't as bad as Sirius's and Peter's. He just had Quidditch magazines, his Quidditch robes, and some books scattered around. Remus guessed the books were either about Animagi or Quidditch. Those seemed to be the only things he read about.

Remus turned back to the door and grabbed the doorknob, silently praying that the door wouldn't squeak as he opened it. Luck was on his side as the door didn't make a single side.

When he was outside the room, Remus turned back to the closed door. He pointed his wand at the bottom corner of the door and outlined the whole door from corner to corner as he whispered a spell he just read about in a book about Charms he got from the library. The outlined door glowed purple. When the glow died down, Remus pointed his wand at the center of the door and whispered another spell as he waved his wand.

Smiling, Remus pocketed his wand in his pants pocket and walked down to the Common Room. He plopped down on the couch, tossed his bags on the floor, and fell to sleep.

The next morning, Lily was surprised to come down into the Common Room to find Remus asleep on the couch. She told her friends to go ahead of her to the Great Hall before heading towards the couch. She kneeled next to the couch and flicked Remus's head.

Remus groaned and swatted at her hand.

Lily chuckled and flicked Remus's head again.

"Stop it." Remus mumbled.

"You need to wake up, Lupin." Lily said as she flicked Remus's forehead again.

Remus sighed and open his eyes halfway. "Evans, what do you want?"

Lily and Remus were friendly to each and could stand each other's presence, but they weren't really friends. They were just able to be in the same room with each other without yelling at each other like Remus's other friends did with her, except James who was always asking her out.

"Well, I'm more curious as to why you are sleeping down here, but since I know you won't tell me, I'll just say that you have to get up. It's almost breakfast time." Lily explained.

Remus nodded his head and sat up. "Thanks for waking me, Evans."

Lily nodded her head. "No problem. See you later, Remus."

Remus grinned and grabbed his bag of clothes. He went to the fifth year boy dorms and knocked on the door. He only had to wait a few seconds before his friend, Frank, opened the door.

"Remus, what do you need?" Frank asked groggily. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Can I use your bathroom? I can't go into my dorm for, possibly, a few days." Remus replied.

Frank raised a brow. "I'm not even going to ask. I'm sure the whole school will find out soon since it's the Marauders. Go ahead, Remus."

"Thanks," Remus replied.

Remus sat at his usual seat at the Gryffindor table by himself fifteen minutes later. He was filling his plate with food, happily. He ignored all the worried looks that everyone was shooting at him. With only one Marauder at breakfast, they assumed that something was going to happen. Remus chuckled at that thought.

After twenty of the nervous looks he was receiving, Remus threw his toast onto his plate and looked at everyone. He climbed onto the table to a better view of them. "I'm going to say this because all the nervous looks are annoying me. As you have noticed, my friends, Sirius, James, and Peter are not here. They are not planning anything. Today there is a Quidditch game. We never do anything on the days of Quidditch, so will you all relax already."

"If you aren't planning anything, then where are there?" Lily asked suspiciously.

A smirk formed on Remus's lips. "Trust me, Evans; nothing is going to happen for a while. Which reminds me, I must be going now."

Remus hopped off the table, put his hands lazily in his pockets, and left the Great Hall. He walked to a painting of a bowl of fruit. After making sure he was alone, Remus tickled the pear until a doorknob appeared. He pulled the painting opened and entered the kitchen where he was immediately greeted by a bunch of house elves.

"Sir Remus, what can Sparky do for sir?" Spark asked.

"Hi Sparky, can you send up two meals a day for three people to the fourth year Gryffindor boys' dorm until I say otherwise?" Remus asked nicely.

Sparky nodded his head. "Yes sir, is there anything else Spark can do for Sir Remus?"

Remus thought for a minute before he smiled. "Can you get me a big hunk of chocolate while I write a letter to my friends that you can give them?"

"Yes sir." Sparky nodded his head vigorously before walking away.

"Why won't this stupid open?" Sirius growled as he was trying to pull his dorm door open. "We're going to miss breakfast and the game at this rate."

"Try Alohomora," James suggested. He was a little nervous and was starting to get frantic. He didn't want to miss the Quidditch game. It was Ravenclaw versus Slytherin today. If Ravenclaw won then Gryffindor had to beat Hufflepuff in the next game by one hundred points to go to the Quidditch finals.

Sirius turned around to glare at James. "How stupid do you think I am? I've tried every spell I could think of to get this door to open. Nothing is working."

"Is that why the door is gold with red dots on it?" Peter looked up from his trunk as he asked this. He was trying to find his socks.

James sighed. He was trying to stay calm about this. Getting all frantic wouldn't help. "Let's ask Remus. He might know what to do."

Not waiting for a reply, James moved over to Remus's bed and pulled the curtains apart around the bed. "Hey Rem…" He stopped talking and turned around, agitated. "Remus's not here. He's the one who did this."

"How do you…." Peter's question was cut off by a loud grumbling/growling noise.

Peter and James looked at Sirius, who was laughing. "I'm hungry."

James rolled his eyes. "And we're stuck."

"How do you know it was Remus who locked us in here?" Peter finished his question.

"He's the only one not here. If someone wanted to trap us, they would make sure all four of us were in here first, but since Remus isn't here, I'm guessing that's because he locked us in here for some reason." James explained.

As James finished explaining this, three plates of food and three goblets of pumpkin juice appeared on each of their night stands. Next, a letter fell onto James's head.

Sirius was already golfing down his food so he didn't see the letter.

James threw the letter onto his bed. He wanted to eat before reading it. It didn't look like it was a really important letter.

When all three boys were done eating, James picked the letter back up. He cleared his throat and began reading it to his friends.

_James, Sirius, Peter,_

_You should have realized by not that you are locked into our dorm with no way out. If you haven't realized that yet, then you are way dumber than I ever thought you were. Anyway, I came to the conclusion last night that I am tired of living in that pig sty. So, I locked the door with a spell and left for a few days. The door will open for you guys when the room is cleaned. You will be given two meals a day and be trapped in that room, possibly forever, until that dorm is clean. Have fun!_

_Remus_

"I'm going to murder him!" Sirius said as soon as James finished reading the letter.

"We…we're….going to miss the game." James whined.

"That stupid prat," Sirius growled.

Peter looked up from the letter. "How do we know this is true? He's probably joking and is going to let us out on Monday since we have school."

"That's a very good point, Pete. Remus is going to let us out. He doesn't want us to miss school." Sirius sat on his bed and crossed his arms. "And if he wants this room cleaned so badly, he can do it himself."

James looked longingly out the window. "But the Quidditch match….."

Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "It's not let Gryffindor is playing, so you won't get in trouble for missing the game. Who knows, maybe Remus will let us out before the games begin."

After a few hours of hanging together in their dorm against their will, James got off his bed and looked towards the Quidditch pitch. He saw a large group of students coming back. "The game is over. We've missed it."

Sirius groaned. "Don't whine to us. When Remus lets us out, you can complain to him."

That night, Remus slept in the common room with a smile on his. He wondered how long his friends would stay locked in their dorm before they realized he was serious about them cleaning it to get out of.

"Mr. Lupin!" McGonagall called the next day at breakfast.

Remus chewed his toast slowly as he looked up from his plate. He was chewing his toast to buy himself time. He was trying to figure out what McGonagall wanted. As far as he knew he hasn't done anything wrong recently, well….except locking his friends into their dorm like prisoners.

"Yes Professor?" Remus asked after he swallowed his toast.

McGonagall's eyes moved to the empty seats around Remus. She looked back at Remus suspiciously. "I haven't seen Messrs Black, Potter, and Pettigrew since Friday night. They weren't even at the game yesterday. Where are they?"

"Do I look like their parent? It's not my job to keep track of them." Remus replied. He took a sip of pumpkin juice, but kept his eyes fixed on his professor. "If I had to guess, I'd say they were up to no good somewhere, but I'm not really sure since I don't keep track of them. I have much better things to do with my time."

McGonagall looked at Remus sternly. She didn't believe Remus, but since she had no legal way of telling if he was lying or not, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "The next time you see them, tell them I would like a word with them."

"Yes ma'am." Remus replied, hiding a smirk behind his goblet.

A week went by since the disappearance of three of the four Marauders. Everyone noticed their disappearance by now and started giving Remus nervous looks. He was so nonchalant about their disappearance that it made them wary. Some people even started a rumor that he killed them and stashed their bodies in his dorm and that's why he's not sleeping in his dorm.

When Remus heard this rumor and a few of the others that were started, he had himself a great laugh. He couldn't believe the things that some people came up with. It was really ridiculous that some people would actually believe, let alone think, that he would murder his best friends. He wasn't evil!

While Remus was having a laugh and everyone else was wary of him, James, Sirius, and Peter were going crazy in their dorm. It was still a hug mess. They still thought that Remus would let them out. That thought was dying down with each day that went by.

Peter was rocking back and forth on his bed. He couldn't take any more time with being alone with James and Sirius. They were both completely insane. Peter couldn't figure out how Remus could stay sane like he is….. "Ha!"

"What?" James and Sirius looked up from planning their tenth plan that week that they were going to pull when they were free from their dorm.

"I just thought that Remus was sane. There is no way he can be sane." Peter was laughing like he was crazy.

"You're not sane either." James pointed out.

Peter sobered up. "Being friends with you two, how could I be sane? I was just thinking that Remus somehow kept himself sane, despite that fact that he is friends with both of you. But then I remembered that he's kept up locked in this dorm for a week with only two meals a day. He's insane!"

Sirius nodded his head. "He really is."

James stood up and moved over to the window. "Look, I want out of this dorm. I haven't been able to prank Snivellus or see my beloved Lily Evans in a week. We need to get out of this dorm now!"

"But the letter said that the door would only open if we clean our dorm." Sirius replied.

James turned around to face his friends. "Then we just have to clean it."

Sirius and Peter looked at each other shocked. "He's finally lost it." Peter said.

"I haven't lost it! I just want out of here. I've missed three Quidditch practices this week, haven't pranked Snivellus in a week, and haven't been able to see the lovely Ms. Evans in a week. And do you have any idea of how much homework we're going to have when we get out and all the detentions we might get for missing a week of school without a good enough reason that will satisfy McGonagall!" James said.

Sirius groaned. "The first thing I'm going to do when I get out of this room is kill Remus. Do you know how long it will take to clean this mess up?"

James sighed. "I know, so let's start."

After half an hour of cleaning, Sirius dropped down onto his bed and buried his face into his pillow. "I hate this."

"Sirius, get your lazy ass out of that bed! You've barely done anything!" James screamed at his best friend.

"But I hate cleaning." Sirius whined.

James stomped over to Sirius's bed and pulled him up by his hair. He glared at Sirius. "Listen here, pretty boy, I want out of this room. There are so many other things I would like to be doing right now, but I can't do any of them until this dorm is clean. So get up and clean!"

Sirius wrenched his heir free and rubbed his head. He stared at James. "Did you call me pretty boy?"

James just continued to glare at Sirius.

Sirius's eye twitched and he tackled James. The two boys rolled around on the floor, each tying to get the upper hand.

Peter jumped away from the two fighting boys as they rolled near him. "Will you two stop it? You are making the room messier. This is going to make it take longer to get cleaned."

James and Sirius stopped and stared at Peter shocked. "Whoa, calm down!"

"I want out of this room just as bad as James. I can't stand any more time with you two. I need some time away from you guys." Peter said as he threw some of his clothes into the hamper.

Sirius moaned. "Fine, we'll clean the room."

James and Sirius broke apart from their wrestling and went back to their corners of the room to continue cleaning.

After a few minutes of silence, Peter looked up. "Do either of you remember the spell to vanish something?"

"Evanesco," James and Sirius replied simultaneously immediately.

Peter nodded his head and started vanishing the trash around his bed.

At lunch on Sunday, a week after the disappearance of three of the four Marauders, Remus was quietly enjoying breakfast by himself. He's been eating by himself ever since his friends disappeared. Everyone was still wary around him.

Lunch was going really well until about half way through it. The Great Hall doors were slammed open, gaining the attention of everyone, including the teachers. Everyone looked towards the door to see James, Sirius, and Peter storming into the Great Hall angrily.

Remus grinned at them when he saw them. "Finally get out, did you?"

"Run!" Sirius warned through clenched teeth.

Remus grinned at him before jumping onto the table and jumping off on the other side of the table. Sirius jumped over the table after him. The young werewolf laughed and vaulted over the Ravenclaw table.

James and Peter looked at each other as Sirius chased Remus around the Great Hall. "Should we do something?" Peter asked.

James looked at Remus and Sirius then looked back at Peter. "Kill Lupin!"

James ran over the Hufflepuff table and jumped on top of it. He waited until Sirius chased Remus down to him. When Remus was close enough to him, James flung himself off the table and onto Remus. He had the smaller boy pinned under him.

Remus fidgeted under James, trying to get free. "Get off me!"

Sirius skidded to a halt next to them, breathing heavily.

"Potter! Black! Lupin! What is the meaning of this? You just come storming into the Great Hall after a week of being missing and start behaving like wild animals!" McGonagall said angrily as she stalked over to them.

Sirius and James looked up at their professor and grinned. "Professor, this prat deserves all the punishments we give him."

"And why is that?" McGonagall asked sternly, but a little curious.

James smirked. "Well, he locked us in our dorm for a week. We couldn't get out unless we cleaned the dorm completely. Because of that we were slowly going insane."

"First of all, you guys were never sane to begin with. And second of all, what happened to never telling on another Marauder?" Remus asked as he tried to get James off of him.

James knocked Remus on the head. "Quiet you. That privilege for you was lost when you locked us in that dorm."

Remus grinned. "Does that mean I can give all your secrets away now?"

James gaped at him.

"Only if you want us to give every secret of yours away," Sirius threatened.

Remus's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?" Sirius asked in an even tone.

James whacked Sirius in the head. "Shut up, Sirius."

"Black, Potter, Lupin, detention for a week each. That includes you too, Pettigrew. And twenty points from each of you. Now, Potter let Lupin up." McGonagall said.

Remus stood up and brushed dust off himself.

Sirius was still glaring at him, while James just shrugged and looked towards the Gryffindor table and smiled at Lily Evans.

"You know guys, that charm I put on the dorm to keep you locked in there was going to cancel after a week. The door would have just opened after a week." Remus said.

"WHAT?" Sirius, Peter, and James yelled angrily. They all whipped around to face Remus.

"Well, yeah, I wasn't going to let you guys stay locked in the dorm. But I think it's a good thing you cleaned the room." Remus said.

The three friends gaped at Remus, who smirked and jumped over the tables on his way back to the Gryffindor table.

Remus: 1

James: 0

Sirius: 0

Peter: 0

**A/N: Fun, fun, fun. The poll with the Marauders is just a little something to see who can get the most points in beating the others. Just for fun.**


	3. One Shot 3: Beginning

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nothing!**

**Marauders One Shots**

**Thanks for the Reviews!**

**A/N: I like coming up with ideas of how the Marauders became friends, how they confronted Remus about being a werewolf, etc., so I'll probably do more than one way of how they became friends, found out about Remus, etc. So, don't question it. As you will notice most of my one shots will have Remus as a main character in them. That's because Remus is one of my favorite Marauders. I love him! Same with James and Sirius, but writing about Remus is easier for me.**

**Year 1**

**One Shot #3: Beginning**

After saying a quick goodbye to his parents, the young boy with messy black hair and glasses grabbed his trunk and ran to the trunk. An older student nearby, wearing a badge that showed he was a Prefect saw the young boy and helped him get his trunk onto the train. The young boy thanked him and jumped onto the train to find a compartment for himself. He walked towards the very end of the train. In his opinion, seating at the back of the train was the best place to seat. He went to the very last compartment to find it empty except for one girl in there. She had fiery red hair and was staring at the window.

"Hi, do you mind if I seat here?" The boy asked.

The girl nodded her head, but didn't turn to face him.

"I'm James Potter, by the way." James said.

The girl nodded her head. "Lily Evans." She said quietly.

James put his trunk into the rack and sat down across from the girl. He looked at her and saw tears running down her face. Being only eleven and finding this very awkward, James turned his head to look out the window. He saw another boy out on the platform yelling at a woman with long black hair that looked to be his mother. The boy had his hands clenched into fists.

Glancing at the girl in the compartment, James stood up and got off the train. He walked closer to the two arguing people. As he got closer, James saw a second boy who looked to be younger than the mad boy by a year or two.

"Muggle-born, Mother. Stop calling them that other word. It's disrespectful!" The boy hissed. "There is nothing wrong with them learning magic. They have just as much right to learn magic as we do."

"Sirius Orion Black, have I taught you nothing?" The woman growled angrily. "I have half a mind to not allow to go to Hogwarts this year!"

James stopped and stared at the family shocked. He never expected to hear a Black defending muggle-borns. Clearing his throat to get their attention, James took another stepped forward. "Hello, I just thought I would inform you that the train is leaving in a few minutes. You should really get on the train now." James was looking at Sirius as he said this, completely ignoring the other two.

Sirius looked at James shocked. He didn't expect someone to approach him after hearing he was a Black.

James smiled and turned to Sirius's mother. "Excuse us, ma'am, if I can even call you that. You don't even look like a woman. We must be going."

Sirius stared wide eyed at the boy next to him. He had to be completely insane to say that to his mother. Instantly, Sirius began to like this boy, especially the way he talked to his mother. "Yes, excuse us, mother. We really must be going."

Grabbing his trunk, Sirius ran away from his mother with the boy following him. They got his trunk onto the train and jumped onto it, just as the train started moving.

Sirius turned to James and grinned. "Thanks for that. You have to be really stupid or really brave to say that to my mother. I'm Sirius Black, by the way."

Grinning, James took the outstretched hand and shook it. "So I heard. I'm James Potter. You can come seat in the compartment I'm in."

Seating in their compartment, the two boys were firing off random questions at each other to find out more about each other when the door to the compartment opened again. A boy with long, greasy black hair and a big nose stepped into the compartment. He sat down opposite Lily. She glanced at him and then looked back out of the window. She had been crying.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said in a constricted voice.

"Why not?" The boy asked.

"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." Lily replied.

"So what?" The boy said.

She threw him a look of deep dislike.

"So she's my sister!" Lily said upset.

"She's only a – " He caught himself quickly; Lily, too busy trying to wipe her eyes without being noticed, did not hear him.

"But we're going!" he said, unable to suppress the exhilaration in his voice. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

She nodded, mopping her eyes, but in spite of herself, she half smiled.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," said Snape, encouraged that she had brightened a little.

"Slytherin?"

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked the boy lounging on the seats opposite him. Sirius did not smile.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," he said.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!"

Sirius grinned.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James lifted an invisible sword.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."

Snape made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy – "

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.

James roared with laughter. Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oooooo…"

James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice; James tried to trip Snape as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!" James called as the door closed.

James turned back to Sirius when the door was closed. "So, everyone in your family was in Slytherin? Guess I shouldn't be surprised. The Black family is one of the darkest wizarding families. No offense, mate!"

"None taken, it's all true. I just hope I can escape Slytherin. Anyway," Sirius broke into a grin. "Snivellus?"

James smirked. "Fits him well, don't you think?"

"Oh, very well," Sirius smirked. "Do you like pranks?"

James grinned. "Yes, you?"

"Of course. I have to do something at home. Pranks anger my mother very much. What do you say to a prank to disrupt the feast today?" Sirius asked.

"What's your idea?" James inquired interested.

"Don't know yet." Sirius replied.

James laughed. "Let's come up with something now then."

The boys spent the rest of the train ride eating junk food, laughing, talking, and planning their first prank together.

By the time the train reached Hogsmeade, Sirius and James were best mates. They ran off the train excitedly. They were finally hear at Hogwarts!

A young boy with light brown hair and gold eyes stepped off of the train and looked around the Hogsmeade station. He spent the whole train ride here by himself and reading quietly in a compartment alone. He was worried about making friends. He's been alone for four years, ever since that horrible night when he was bitten by a werewolf. After being alone for four years with no one but his parents for company, the boy didn't think he would be able to make friends or even find the confidence to talk to anyone.

As he was walking towards the man who was calling first years to him, the boy felt someone slam into his shoulder. He stumbled forward and almost fell onto his face. Before he could hit the ground, someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back up and onto his feet.

"Sorry about that. I'm just so excited about finally being here at Hogwarts." The boy said. "I'm James Potter, so you know."

Sirius chuckled behind James. "I'm Sirius Black."

The boy just stared at them blankly.

"And your name is?" James prompted.

"Uh…..R-Remus….Remus Lupin." Remus replied nervously.

"Well, heya Remmy!" Sirius said happily.

Remus stared at him blankly. "It's Remus."

"I know that." Sirius replied.

The man called Hagrid led the group of first years to the lake where a bunch of boats were waiting for them. "Four to a boat now!" He called back to them.

"Do you think that there really is a Giant Squid in the lake?" Sirius asked excitedly.

James grinned. "That's what my dad told me. Let's try to find him."

Remus shook his head at the two and walked away from them. If they wanted to find the Giant Squid, then they can, but they were going to leave him out of it. He wanted nothing to do with those two crazy loons.

The boys didn't pay any attention to Remus leaving. They were too busy looking across the lake, trying to find the Giant Squid.

After an uneventful travel across the lake, Hagrid led the nervous first years to doors of the castle. He knocked three times on the big doors. The doors were opened almost immediately by a stern looking witch with black tied back in a bun.

"Thank you Hagrid. I'll take them from here." The witch said.

Hagrid smiled at the nervous first and left them.

The witch told the kids to follow her. She led them into the Entrance Hall and to a door on the other side of it. They passed a big set of doors where they could all hear excited, happy voices talking. She ushered them into the small room.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before it can, you must all be sorted into your houses. The Sorting Ceremony is really important because, while you are here, your house will be like your family. You will have classes with your house, sleep in house dormitory, and spend your free time in your common room." McGonagall explained to them.

James grinned to Sirius, who smiled nervously back. "What's wrong?"

"My family has always been Slytherins." Sirius replied.

"Relax, you aren't a Slytherin. Even if you are put there, I'll stay your friend, but trust me. I know you won't be in Slytherin." James said, smiling.

Sirius nodded his head.

"The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." McGonagall finished explaining. She cast one more look at all the students before leaving the room.

"I wonder what we have to do to be sorted." James said.

Sirius shrugged. He really didn't want to think about it.

A few minutes later, all the first years were standing in the Great Hall. McGonagall put a stool in front of them with an old dirty hat on it. The hat started to sing a song.

When the song was over, the whole burst into applause and the hat tipped the tipped of the hat to each table.

"When I call your name, you will come up, put the hat on, and sit down." McGonagall explained to the first years. A few of the first years nodded their heads.

"Ambon, Joseph."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Avon, Kalian."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Bain, Jackie."

Remus watched the sorting nervously. He was probably the most nervous of all the kids, he sure felt it. He looked at the Head Table to see all the teachers watching the Sorting. Dumbledore looked away from the Sorting and caught his eye. Dumbledore smiled reassuring at Remus. This did little to ease Remus's nerves.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Beck, Max."

"SLYTHERIN!"

So many thoughts were running through Remus's mind. What house would he be? Would he even be in a house? What house would accept a werewolf? Remus knew the answer immediately to that question. No house would ever accept a werewolf. Why was he even here?

"Black, Sirius."

Remus recognized the boy who went up to the stool as one of the best he met at the station. He walked confidently, but Remus could see the nervousness in his eyes before the Sorting Hat covered his eyes.

Sirius sat on the stool. He looked at the first years who were still standing. He caught that Lupin kid's eyes before the hat was put on his head. There was a lot of nervousness, but also determination in Lupin's eyes. Sirius gripped the sides of the stools. He would prove that he wasn't like all the other Blacks.

_Ah, another Black, eh? All of them have gone to Slytherin._

_Don't you dare put me in Slytherin. I'm nothing like my family._

_Are you sure about that?_

_Yes, if you put me in Slytherin, they'll have to find another way to sort the students._

The hat chuckled. _Let's have look. Hmm, lots of loyalty and bravery here. Cunning, very cunning, but nothing like a Slytherin._

Sirius sighed in relief.

_Lots of intelligence here, but not really the Ravenclaw type. Loyal, very loyal to your friends and very brave. You openly defy your mother about what she believes in. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for what you believe in and for what you know is right, especially against your mother. Yes, I know exactly where you belong. You belong in…_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Everyone went silent at what the hat called. The Slytherins stared at the hat and Sirius in complete shock. The Gryffindors were frowning and looked annoyed at having a Black in their house. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were looking back and forth between the tables. The teachers looked surprised; some of them even looked proud.

Sirius stood next to the stool, looking happy, but was looking around the hall, as if waiting for something. He glanced at each table.

James grinned. He knew his friend wasn't a Slytherin, but he was also very mad. None of the Gryffindors were cheering for him, probably because he was a Black. Annoyed, James cupped his hands around his mouth. "GO SIRIUS! I KNEW YOU WEREN'T A SLIMY GIT!"

Sirius looked at James and grinned.

James call woke the students up. The Gryffindors started applauding, not as loud as they would for someone else, but still clapping.

Sirius sat down next to one of the students. He had bright red hair and was grinning slightly. "Arthur Weasley, Head Boy, sorry about the others. It's just that there's never been a Black in any house but Slytherin. It's quite a shock."

"It's understandable." Sirius said, smirking. "Wonder how my mother will take the news."

Remus watched Sirius sit down and sit next to a boy with flaming red hair. He looked back towards the front when the two started talking. Would he be accepted? What if the hat yelled out werewolf when he put the hat on? Would he ever be accepted? It's not like he wants to be a werewolf. He didn't choose for this.

Remus barely noticed at the sorting went on. More students went up and got sorted, but he didn't even notice what house they went in. He didn't even hear their names being called. He was too wrapped up in his memories to notice. That night, the horrible night, five years ago was playing in his head. The night that his life turned to hell.

The young werewolf cub shook his head. He didn't want to be reminded of that horrible night on this wonderful day.

"Lupin, Remus."

All the teachers perked up when they heard the name. Dumbledore told them all about the young werewolf that was coming to Hogwarts this year.

Or at least, Remus hoped it would be wonderful. He just hoped that he would be sorted. He hoped that he wouldn't be put into Slytherin because he's a werewolf. Werewolves are dark creatures, so what was he thinking? Of course he would go to Slytherin. Why did he even bother coming then? He doesn't want to be a Slytherin!

"Lupin, Remus!" McGonagall repeated.

Remus didn't notice his name being repeated and repeated and repeated. He was too concerned and lost in his thoughts about being a werewolf and what house he was going to be in.

James looked at the kids in front of him and saw Remus in front of few boys away from him. He chuckled when he noticed the boy looking at the Slytherin table with annoyance and disgust in his eyes. He wondered if Remus was ignoring his name being called on purpose or if he really didn't hear it being called.

"LUPIN, REMUS!" McGonagall yelled in frustration. She knew the boy was here. She did a quick head count earlier to make sure all the students were here.

James watched Remus to see that he didn't even jump when his name was called, so he figured that the boy wasn't listening. Grinning, James told the kids in front of him to move so he could reach Remus. James jumped onto Remus's back, earning a yell from the boy in surprise as they both fell to the ground. "Hi Remus!"

Remus glanced at James, who was still sitting on his back and keeping him pinned to the ground. He raised a brow. "What are you doing?"

"Just sitting." James shrugged nonchalantly, but couldn't keep the mirth out of his eyes.

McGonagall stared at the boys in shocked as all the students burst out laughing.

"Mr. Potter, what do you think you are doing?" McGonagall asked.

"Just helping." James replied.

McGonagall raised a brow. "How is jumping onto someone's back helping?"

James smirked. "Remus was so lost in thought that he didn't notice you calling his name like ten times."

Remus blushed. "She was?"

"Yes, you really should pay more attention." James scolded.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"So, what are you waiting for? Go get sorted so I can get sorted." James said excitedly.

"You do realize that for me to get sorted I have to go up to the stool, right?" Remus asked dryly.

"What do you think I am? An idiot? I know that!" James said, feigning hurt.

Remus slammed his head on the ground. "I'm beginning to think you are. I can't get up to the stool since you are SITTING ON MY BACK!"

James grinned and laughed. "Oh right, sorry!"

James stood up and held a hand out to Remus and pulled him to his feet. "Now go get sorted!"

The young werewolf couldn't keep the smile off his face and started laughing. He stumbled all the way up to the stool because he was laughing so much.

McGonagall was frowning and shaking her head.

The Sorting Hat fell over Remus's eyes, causing him to stop laughing immediately. The few seconds of happiness he felt were long gone. Now he was going to be sent to his doom.

_Ah, a werewolf, eh?_

_Please don't say anything!_

_Relax, it's not my job to tell. I've just never sorted one of you before. Werewolves have never been allowed to come to Hogwarts. You owe Dumbledore a lot, don't you?_

_I owe him so much for allowing me to come to Hogwarts._

_Yes, you do. Now let's go you sorted._

Remus gulped. _Anywhere but Slytherin._

The hat chuckled. _Don't worry, you are not a Slytherin. You don't trust easily because of your condition. You wouldn't fit in Hufflepuff. Lots of intelligence, I see and you love reading. You would do well in Ravenclaw. But you are also very brave._

_Brave? _Remus snorted. _That is one thing that I am not._

_Don't be too sure about that. You have to have a lot of bravery and courage to come to Hogwarts with your problem. You've had to live with this for five years. It takes a lot of bravery to deal with being a werewolf._

_I don't belong in the house of bravery._

_You think that now, but it's the truth. It's where you belong._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

_You'll do great there._

Remus pulled that hat off his head and looked at the table that was cheering. He smiled a little. He looked back at Dumbledore whose eyes were twinkling like mad. Dumbledore smiled at Remus and nodded his head towards the Gryffindor table.

Grinning, Remus walk towards the Gryffindor table and sat across from Sirius.

When Sirius saw him, he started laughing. "I saw James jump on you. It definitely made my day."

Remus laughed. "I sure wasn't expecting it."

"What were thinking about that made you miss your name being called?" Sirius asked.

Remus stopped laughing and looked at his hands. "I….I was afraid of being sorted to Slytherin."

Sirius smiled slightly. "Me too. Why would you be afraid of going there? It's obvious for me because I come from a dark family, but why you?"

Remus glanced at Sirius and looked back at the sorted. He ignored Sirius's question and watched a boy called Peter Pettigrew be sorted.

Peter was very nervous. He stumbled up to the stool and sat down.

_Hmm, where to put you? You're not very smart or loyal, are you? You can be very cunning at times, but that also needs bravery for the things you do. Yes, you have a lot of bravery. I know where to put you._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Peter hopped off the stool, put the hat down, and ran to the applauding table. He sat next to Remus and smiled nervously. "H-hello, I'm P-peter P-pettigrew."

"Sirius Black."

"Remus Lupin."

"Potter, James."

"Shh, James is going to be sorted." Sirius hissed.

The boys fell quiet and looked at the front to watch James stroll confidently up to the stool. He looked at Sirius, Remus, and Peter before he sat down. He grinned at them before the hat fell over his eyes.

_A Potter, eh? This isn't even difficult. I love my difficult challenges._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

James hopped off the stool and went over to his friends. He sat next to Sirius and grinned at Remus. "That was fun."

Remus raised a brow. "What was? The sorting or jumping on my back?"

"Jumping on you of course." James smirked.

"Yeah, don't ever do that again." Remus replied.

"But it was fun." James whined.

"I don't want a broken back." Remus retorted.

"I'm not even heavy." James replied.

Remus raised a brow. "Uh huh."

James pouted, causing the other three to laugh.

At the end of the feast, the four boys followed the fifth year Gryffindors Prefects out of the Great Hall. They spent the whole feast joking around and learning more about each other. James and Sirius demanded that there were no secrets between them. Remus tensed at that. He already realized that it was going to be hard to keep his secret with them as friends.

The Prefects led them to a portrait of a Fat Lady in a pink dress. "This is the entrance to Gryffindor Tower." Angle explained to the first years. "The password is Moon Star."

The portrait swung forward, allowing the kids entrance.

"The boys' dorm is upstairs and the first door on the left, girls upstairs and first door to the right. Have a good night." Jack explained.

Remus walked towards the steps. He almost reached them when he felt a weight land on his back. Remus stumbled forward, but was able to stay on his feet. He turned his head to see James sitting on his back. "What did I tell you about jumping on me?"

James grinned. "Well, you told me not to, so I decided to do it again."

"Well, get off." Remus growled.

"Naw, I don't feel like it." James replied. "Take me upstairs!"

"How about you get off?" Remus suggested.

"I will when you get upstairs." James smirked.

Remus turned to Sirius and Peter with pleading eyes.

Sirius smirked and shook his head. "Your problem."

Peter just shrugged.

Growling, Remus started to climb the stairs. "I hate you."

"No, you don't." James said.

As soon as they were in their dorm, Remus smirked and grabbed one of James's arms that were wrapped around his neck. He flipped James over his body and slammed him onto one of the beds. James gasped and sat up as soon as the shock passed.

"Damn, you are strong to be able to do that." James said.

"Why didn't you do that downstairs?" Sirius asked. He was standing in the doorway and looking at Remus shocked.

Remus was cursing himself in his mind. He couldn't believe he was stupid enough to actually do that in front of them. "Well, if I did it downstairs he could have gotten hurt. I didn't want to slam him onto the hard floor."

"I knew you didn't hate me." James grinned.

Remus rolled his eyes and moved over to the bed with his trunk in front of it. "Whatever. I'm going to bed. Night."

"Good night all!"

"Night Sirius, Remus, James."

"Good night guys."

After pulling his pajamas on, Remus buried himself under his covers. He left his curtains open and looked at his three roommates. They seemed really nice. They could probably be great friends. No one, but the teachers, knew the truth about Remus. He could make new friends. This was a new beginning for Remus.

**A/N: Please review! I like reviews.**


	4. One Shot 4: Remus's First Detention

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nothing!**

**Marauders One Shots**

**Thanks for the Reviews!**

**A/N: I like coming up with ideas of how the Marauders became friends, how they confronted Remus about being a werewolf, etc., so I'll probably do more than one way of how they became friends, found out about Remus, etc. So, don't question it. As you will notice most of my one shots will have Remus as a main character in them. That's because Remus is one of my favorite Marauders. I love him! Same with James and Sirius, but writing about Remus is easier for me.**

**Year 3**

**One Shot #4: Remus's First Detention**

Remus entered the Great Hall for dinner and went to sit by his friends, The Marauders. The Marauders were four of the most popular boys in Hogwarts. All four of them were in Gryffindor and in the same year. Sometimes Remus wonders how he was one of them. He wasn't outgoing like them and he never got into trouble like them. His three friends spend a large amount of time in detention.

The first boy has messy, black hair and brown eyes with glasses in front of them. He was a star Quidditch player for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. His position on the team was chaser. A lot of girls in all years wanted to date him. He dated a few of them, but wasn't serious with any of them. He had a huge crush on a Gryffindor girl in their year. Besides that, he was a huge prankster. He loved to pull pranks on everyone, especially Slytherins. His name is James Potter.

The second boy has long black hair and grey eyes. He was obsessed with his hair and took about an hour each morning to fix it. According to all the girls, he was extremely handsome and they all wanted to date him as well. Just like James, this boy was a huge prankster too. They were partners in crime. They always pulled pranks together and got sent to detention together. His name is Sirius Black.

His last friend has mousy brown hair and grey eyes. He was a little chubby, but not much. A few girls wanted to date him, but not many. He helped plan the pranks, but didn't help James and Sirius with them all the time. He spent some time in detention, but not a lot like James and Sirius. James and Sirius were intelligent, while he was a little thick. He had to get their help in most classes. His name is Peter Pettigrew.

Remus, himself, has light brown hair and gold eyes. According to his friends, he had a group girls chasing after him, but he didn't believe it. He was boring. He never got detention or did anything wrong. The only thing he did was help his friends plan their pranks, but he never actually did any of the pranks. That wasn't his department. He didn't want detention. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself. He was afraid that if people watched him like they did with his friends, they might discover he is a werewolf. James and Sirius said because he didn't date, was a Marauder, smart, and had a mischievous aura around him that girls wanted him. They said that the girls all called him mysterious because of this. This made the girls want to date him more. Remus always wants to do something bad, but has always been too afraid.

After filling his plate with food, Remus turned to his friends. "Hey guys."

"Hi Remus, where have you been?" James asked, looking up from his plate to examine his friend. He saw that his friend was looking extremely nervous and twitching over something and kept glancing at the Great Hall doors and up at the Head Table. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing and I've just been in the library doing my homework, something you should try." Remus replied. He grabbed his fork and shoved some food into his mouth. He looked up at the ceiling to see the night sky on the ceiling. The moon, Remus noted, was almost full. Soon, he would have to leave school to transform.

Sirius leaned pass James to look at Remus to see the young werewolf's eye twitch. "Don't worry about him, James. It's just his time of the month."

Remus glared at Sirius. "What have I told you about calling it that?"

"Not to do it under threat of getting hexed into oblivion." Sirius smirked. "But we all know you won't hex me. You're too much of a goody-two shoes."

Remus glowered at him. "Then why do you hang out with me?"

"Because you come up with such great prank ideas and you improve our ideas and make sure nothing can go wrong with them. I don't know where we would be without your brain. You are so good at planning. You should really let your Marauding spirit out more." James explained.

Peter looked over at his friends. "I wonder where McGonagall and Slughorn are."

James looked at him. "What?"

Peter nodded his head towards the Head Table. They all looked up at it to see that both McGonagall and Slughorn were missing from dinner.

"That's weird. They are usually here by this time." Remus said before shrugging. It didn't concern him.

Sirius smirked. "Maybe they are getting it on." He wiggled his eye brows.

"OI! Horrible mental image, Black!" James slammed his hands over his ears and shook his head violently.

Peter stared wide eyed at Sirius, while Remus slammed his head on the table.

"Sirius, you….." Remus voice was overshadowed by an angry female voice.

"HE DID WHAT?"

Everyone turned towards the Great Hall doors where the voice came from. A few minutes of silence passed by before the doors slammed open and McGonagall stormed in. She immediately went in the direction of the Marauders. This didn't surprise anyone in the least.

James and Sirius turned to each other. "What did you do?" They asked together.

"Me? I didn't do anything!" They said together again.

They turned to Peter. "What did you do?"

"Noth….." Peter stopped to think. "Yeah, nothing."

"Then why is she coming towards us?" James asked, glancing back towards his Transfiguration professor. She was frowning and looked really mad. Her lips were really and white. "If we haven't done anything today, there is no reason for her to come over here."

"LUPIN, MY OFFICE NOW!" Professor McGonagall yelled.

Remus stared at his plate, completely flushed. He hated being singled out. It was extremely embarrassing when everyone turned to look at Remus shocked. He was the quiet Marauder who never did anything wrong. So, you can see the shock everyone felt when McGonagall yelled for Remus.

James, Sirius, and Peter tuned to stare at Remus. Their mouths were gaping.

"What did you do?" James asked.

Remus blushed heavily.

"NOW LUPIN!" McGonagall yelled.

"I'll see you guys later." Remus said as he stood up.

"Then you have to tell us what is going on." James hissed.

Remus nodded his head and followed his professor out of the Great Hall. Everyone turned to watch him leave the Great Hall in complete silence. As soon as the Great Hall doors closed behind Remus, everyone broke into whispers about what was going on.

"Sit down, Mr. Lupin." McGonagall ordered when they reached her office.

Remus sat down shyly. He kept staring at his feet, refusing to look at his professor.

McGonagall sat behind her desk and stared at her pupil. "Mr. Lupin, why did you do that? I expected better behavior from you."

Remus blushed. "I got angry. You know, the full moon is approaching and I am very irritable around this time."

"That may be, but that is no excuse for your behavior tonight. I have been very lenient with you these past couple years because of your situation. I allow you to be late to class because of the approaching full moon and allow you to yell at people. I know the full moon approaching is tough on your body, but I cannot let you to leave without punishment tonight."

Remus nodded his head. He expected as much.

"What you did was really immature and mean. You will be serving detention tomorrow night. Be at the Hospital Wing at eight o'clock sharp. You will be serving your detention there and I am taking twenty points from you." McGonagall said.

Remus kept looking at his feet. "Yes ma'am."

"Now go back to your tower. I'm sure your friends are waiting for you." McGonagall replied.

Remus jumped to his feet and ran out of her office.

"No running, Mr. Lupin!" McGonagall yelled after him.

The young werewolf stopped running and walked back to Gryffindor Tower. When he reached the portrait of fat lady, Remus stopped and said the password "Moon Star." The portrait swung open allowing Remus entrance to the tower.

Everyone turned to stare at Remus when he came in. They gave him curious looks.

Remus flushed under all the stares.

"REMUS, GET YOUR ARSE OVER HERE!" James voice yelled at him.

Remus looked around to find his friends sitting in a corner in the common room. He grinned nervously and walked around the other students to get to his friends. He sat down at the table they were sitting at. "What's up?"

Sirius raised a brow. "What do you think? What did McGonagall want with you?"

Remus sighed. "You caught us! We're having a secret affair!" He rolled his eyes.

Sirius fell off his chair, shocked. "WHAT?"

James burst out laughing. "He's joking, Sirius, relax."

"I would hope he's joking." Sirius muttered as he climbed back into his chair. "Now seriously, Remus, what did McGonagall want?"

"To give me detention. Do you guys have any food in the dorm? I didn't get to eat the rest of my dinner and I'm starving." Remus said, looking up the dormitory stairs.

His friends just gave him weird looks.

"What? I'm hungry!" Remus defended himself.

"Well, we don't have any food." Peter said carefully, looking at James and Sirius nervously.

Remus crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "But I'm hungry!"

"I can sneak into the kitchens and get you something." James offered, smiling at his friend.

"Field trip!" Remus said, grinning. "I'll come with you."

"Remus, are you feeling alright?" Sirius asked.

"A little mad and upset that I got detention, but besides that, I'm fine. Why?" Remus asked, staring at Sirius.

Sirius raised a brow. "You just said you wanted to sneak out after curfew."

Remus shrugged. "I have to do it at least once."

"HEY REMUS!" Bilius, a seventh year and captain of the Quidditch team, yelled across the common room.

Remus turned around in his chair to look at him. "Yes?" He raised a brow and looked curious.

"What did you do to get McGonagall that mad?" Bilius asked, grinning a little.

Angel, the Head Girl, hit Bilius. "Honestly, Bilius, it's not something to be proud of."

"Are you kidding? I've never seen her that mad. I think it is a great accomplishment, especially for Remus who has never gotten in trouble before." Bilius replied.

By now, everyone in the common room was looking at Remus, who blushed and looked at the ground. It was his first time getting in trouble and everyone wanted to know what the goody-two shoes Remus did to get McGonagall that mad. It had to be really bad.

"Remus, when given attention like this, you don't look at the ground. You are a Marauder and Marauders don't stare at the ground. Do we have to teach you this all over again?" James hissed at him.

Remus sent him a sideway glare before lifting his head and looking at the students. "You want to know what I did to get McGonagall that mad?"

"Yes!" A few people yelled.

"It's not really impressive." Remus said nonchalantly. "I just lost my temper."

Sirius snorted. "Please, I've never seen you lose your temper. You too good at keeping your emotions in check."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well, I did today and look where it got me, scrubbing bed pans for two hours."

James grinned. "Sucks for you."

"But what did you do?" Shawn, a seventh year Chaser, asked.

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Snape and I just had a small disagreement….."

"About?" James asked, eyes narrowed. He hated Snape.

"I just heard him insulting you guys to his friends." Remus waved his hand impatiently.

"No surprise there. He hates us." Sirius snorted.

Remus shrugged. "Some of the things he was saying were really horrible and he was plotting some type of revenge against you for something."

James raised a brow. "And this made you lose your temper?"

"Well, it's more of the way he was planning to get revenge. If he does take this revenge and it works, you guys will most likely end up in St. Mungo's for a few weeks." Remus replied.

James, Peter, and Sirius winced.

Angel growled. "That fool. Even you three haven't done anything so horrible as to send him to the Hospital Wing."

Remus shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It's not like he's going to pull that revenge now."

"Why? What did you do?" Sirius asked interested.

"Well, I confronted him about it when he was on his way to dinner and his friends left. We got into an argument over it and started saying more horrible things about you guys, things I will not repeat since I don't swear or like anything he said." Remus said. He leaned back in his chair and rested his hands behind his head. "Anyway, after that, everything just went downhill."

"But when you came into the Great Hall, you looked completely fine." Angel said completely confused.

Remus raised a brow. "You make it sound as if I can't take on Snape."

James sat up straight. "What did you do?"

"I already told you, I lost my temper." Remus rolled his eyes. "Weren't you listening?"

"Will you be serious?" James replied.

"Why would I want to be Sirius?" Remus asked.

James groaned. "Remus, just tell me, what did you do to Snape?"

Remus sighed. "I…well, I sort of pinned him against the wall, told him to shut up about my friends, and punched him. I think I broke his nose. Well, after that, I sort of lost it and we got into a huge muggle fight and I sort of left him there, unconscious."

"REMUS!" James and Sirius yelled shocked.

"How could you do that?" Angel said angrily. "I thought you knew better."

Remus threw his hands into the air. "I lost my temper and besides, he'll be fine. I'm sure Slughorn took him to the Hospital Wing. Anyway, I'm tired." He stood up and went up to his dorm.

Sirius, James, and Peter scrambled out of their seats and ran after Remus. They found Remus sitting on his bed with his face buried in his hands. He looked up when they closed the door.

"Remus, how could you do that?" James asked. Yes, he fought with Snape. Yes, he's hexed Snape. Yes, he's hit Snape. But he wasn't a werewolf and didn't have werewolf strength. And being beaten up by a werewolf is very dangerous, especially if they lost control of their temper in that fight. "You know the dangers of muggle fighting someone with your strength. You could have killed Snape."

Tears filled up in Remus's eyes. Tears he would never let anyone but his friends see. In front of others, he had to put an act on. He had to keep his emotions in check. To everyone else, the fight with Snape was just stupid and that he would be fine. None of them knew that Snape could have died in that fight with Remus. No one except Remus, his friends, and his teachers.

"I made a mistake. I let my temper take control. I can't keep it in check all the time. I'm not perfect." Remus said quietly. "And with the full moon approaching it is even harder to keep my temper in check. I just lost it today. That plan of his was really dangerous and he was insulting you guys. I didn't want you guys to get hurt."

"It's no surprise that McGonagall was so mad now. She knew that you could have seriously injured Snape and that scared her. You're one of the best students here, but you're a werewolf. A teenage werewolf with hormones. That's got to be hard." Sirius said.

Remus fell onto his back. "Life sucks."

"Remus, you have to be more careful. I'm sure if this happens again, your punishment will be much worse than just a detention." James said.

Remus raised his head to look at James for a second before dropping his head again.

James sighed and sat on his bed. He ran a hand through his hair.

"But," Sirius grinned, "forgetting about the whole werewolf situation, you got to break Snivellus's nose!"

Remus rolled his eyes.

The next day at dinner, Sirius looked at Snape, who was completely healed. He laughed and nudged James.

"What?" James asked. He looked where Sirius was pointing and laughed. "Well, Remus, you did leave your mark on Snape so he will always remember not to mess with you."

"What are you talking about?" Remus asked irritably.

"Snape's nose is crooked. Apparently, it couldn't be healed all the way. Are you sure you only punched it?" James asked.

Remus sighed. "Look, we were muggle fighting. I'm sure he got slammed into the wall or floor."

"Right, well, have fun in detention." James smiled.

Remus sighed. "Right, I better be going there now."

"Hey Remus, wait one minute." Sirius said.

Remus stopped and looked back at Sirius with a raised brow. "What?"

Sirius pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Remus. "My two way mirror so we can talk to you while you're in detention."

Remus grinned and slid the mirror into his pocket and walked away.

**A/N: I'm not particular happy with this one, but I started it a few weeks ago and wanted to get it done with so I could work on my next idea.**


	5. One Shot 5: Animagi

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nothing!**

**Marauders One Shots**

**Thanks for the Reviews!**

**Year 5**

**One Shot #5: Animagi**

Remus John Lupin, werewolf, fifth year Gryffindor, a Marauder, and many other things. He had so many labels and he hated labels. How did he get all these labels? He just wanted to be the loner in Gryffindor. A boy with no friends, but that didn't work out. His three roommates, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, and Sirius Black befriended him and made him one of the Marauders. Now he was one of the most popular boys in the school. And being popular meant that people noticed when you disappeared so that made it difficult for him to disappear once a month to go transform, but luckily he had three amazing friends who knew his secret and didn't abandon him for it. They stayed by his side and made up stories for why he disappeared once a month.

At this moment, Remus was laying in a bed in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts fast asleep. He was the only occupant. Last night was the full moon and he felt horrible. The wolf didn't like being isolated in the Shrieking Shack. It wanted prey but could get none, so it turned on itself and Remus was the one to feel the after affects of that.

When Remus was seven he was bitten by a werewolf. A werewolf by the name of Fenrir Greyback. His father just told him in August about him and that he was the werewolf who bit Remus. He said that he offended Fenrir and in revenge, Fenrir bit him. When Remus heard this, he threw a fit and yelled at his dad. He blamed his dad for making him go through the hell he had to go through for the past eight years and his dad just sat there and took it all. Out of anger, Remus broke all the glass in the house, packed up his trunk, and went to James to stay there for the rest of the summer. James and Sirius, who was staying there at the time, comforted Remus when he told them. Remus thought it unfair that Fenrir would attack him when his father was the one who offended him. It took a few weeks, but Remus went back home and apologized to his dad for everything he said. His dad said he had nothing to apologize for because he was right. It was his fault. Their relationship after that was stiff and uncomfortable.

Even though his friends accepted him, Remus still felt that they would reject him at any moment. This fear became even worse for the past three years. His friends were always sneaking off and talking in whispered conversation. Whenever Remus approached they would drop the conversation and when Remus asked what they were talking about their reply was always nothing. It annoyed Remus. They were friends or so they said, so why would they exclude him from whatever they are planning? It made him feel really lonely.

Having heightened hearing from being a werewolf, a door being shut when no door should have been open in the Hospital Wing, made Remus's eyes snap open. He was lying on his side with his back to the doors so he couldn't see who it was, but then again, it didn't really matter. They were curtains around his bed so no one could see him. To be frank, he was more curious as to why whoever it was would want to be in the Hospital Wing in the middle of the night.

The curtains around his bed were opened behind him. He tensed when he heard padding feet and the curtain being closed by someone else. He felt the bottom of his bed be pressed down upon as someone joined him on the bed, then a hand was put on his shoulder.

"Remus," A voice said.

Remus blinked. He knew that voice, but his drowsiness was making it hard to think.

"Remus," The voice said again.

The werewolf turned onto his back so he could James standing at the side of his bed.

"How are you?" James asked.

"Sore." Remus replied. "What are you doing here? You could get in trouble for being here. Madam Pomfrey could come in soon."

James held up a hand to stop Remus. "Relax Remus. She won't be here for another forty minutes if you are quiet."

Remus nodded his head.

Satisfied, James put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a rat.

Remus stared at the rat, then at James. "I don't get it."

James chuckled and put the rat on the nightstand.

"So, Remus, I'm sure you've noticed that for the past few years, Sirius, Peter, and I have been planning something." James said.

"Oh, are you finally going to tell me what that something is?" Remus asked scathingly.

James sighed. "Sorry, but we wanted it to be a surprise for you."

Remus crossed his arms. "So, what is this surprise and why do you have to wait until the middle of the night to tell me?"

"Because if anyone outside the Marauders find out we will all be in huge trouble, well, except for you since you haven't done anything." James replied. He pushed his glasses up.

Remus frowned. "What have you done?"

"Well," James pointed to the end of the bed.

Remus finally looked at the end of the bed to see a black dog sitting there. "Where did the dog come from?"

The dog lifted its head and stood up. He moved to the middle of the bed at the end of the bed.

"Go ahead, Sirius." James said.

The dog morphed from being a dog to Sirius.

Remus gaped at him. "You…..what…..how….AA…"

Sirius, noticing what was going to happen, pounced on Remus, pinned him to the bed, and slammed a hand over his mouth. Remus struggled under him, still wanting to yell. "Remus, relax."

Slowly, Remus stopped struggling under Sirius and stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Now, Remus, I will let you go if you won't scream." Sirius said.

Remus nodded his head as best as he could.

Sirius took his hand off Remus's mouth and climbed off the bed.

"Remus, look at the rat." James said.

Worriedly, Remus saw the rat now on the floor. It morphed into Peter. Remus turned to James to see him changed into a stag then back. He looked at each of his friends for a few minutes before turning to James. "ARE….."

Sirius sighed and jumped back onto the bed, slamming his hand over Remus's mouth again. "Remus, if I have to do this again, I'm putting a silencing charm on you. Now, calm down! We're going to explain, okay?"

"Remus, when we learned you were a werewolf, we were scared and worried, not because you were a werewolf, but for what you had to go through each month. You get locked up and because of that you tear yourself up. We wanted to do something to help you." James explained.

"Sadly, there is no cure for lycanthropy, so we did some research. We found out that werewolves are only a danger to humans. Animals can be with a werewolf because werewolves can't infect them." Sirius continued.

"So, we spent the last few years researching Animagi and how to become them. We've finally achieved it." Peter said proudly.

Remus groaned. "No, I know where you are going with this. You can't come with me during the full moon."

Sirius glared at Remus. "And why not? We spent three years working on this for you. We want to help you."

Remus glared at him. "You can't help me." He snarled. "I'm a werewolf. You can't control me. I can seriously injure or kill you. I don't want that on my conscious. I already told you that we shouldn't be friends anymore now that you know about me. I'm dangerous. I'm a monster. You are not coming with me."

Sirius grabbed Remus's shirt and pulled him into his face. "Say that again, I dare you."

"I'm a MONSTER!" Remus yelled, tears in his eyes.

Sirius dived over the bed at James. They threw the cloak over themselves while Peter transformed. Remus heard their feet moving towards the Hospital Wing doors. The door just closed behind them when Remus heard Madam Pomfrey enter the Hospital Wing to find where the yelling came from.

Remus fell against his pillow and pulled the covers over his head. He was a monster. He knew it. His friends tried to tell him otherwise, but Remus knew the truth and so did they. Everyone knew that werewolves were monsters. It was why the Ministry made all those laws against werewolves. Werewolves shouldn't be allowed to live, according to the Ministry. Remus let the tears flow down his face as he fell into a restless sleep.

Madam Pomfrey let Remus out of the Hospital Wing the next day with the instructions to rest and to not do any strenuous activities. Remus promised to rest and left to go to his dorm. He actually would have preferred to stay in the Hospital Wing, but he couldn't without raising suspicion since he always wanted to escape the Hospital Wing.

Remus walked slowly towards Gryffindor Tower. He really hoped his friends weren't there. He didn't want to talk them. After their conversation last night, Remus just wanted them to leave him alone. He couldn't believe they would do something so stupid and dangerous for a dangerous monster.

Remus stopped outside his dorm door and took a deep breath, silently praying that his friends weren't in there. He pushed the door open for a hand to immediately come out and grab him by his shirt. The hand pulled him roughly into the room and slammed him into the wall. Remus yelped in surprise and looked up to find himself staring into the angry face of his best friend.

"Sirius….." Remus growled.

Sirius silenced him with a look.

Beside them, Remus could hear the door being closed and a locking and anti-eavesdropping spell being put on it.

Without warning, Remus was thrown onto the bed closest to the door. He groaned and rolled over so he was on his back. "Why did you do that?"

James and Sirius stood at the end of the bed with their arms crossed and were glaring at Remus. Peter sat on the bed next to the one Remus was on and was frowning at Remus.

Remus sat up. "I don't want to talk to you guys." He stood up and moved over to the bathroom. He wanted to take a shower to get cleaned up. Transforming always made him feel horrible and he needed to take a shower to get that horrible groggy feeling to go away.

"Remus," James growled. He grabbed his arm and pulled hard enough that Remus fell back onto the bed. "We need to talk now."

Remus glared at him. "About you guys going behind my back to do something incredible stupid and dangerous for a stupid, dangerous monster?"

"Stop saying that." Sirius growled. "You are not a monster!"

"Why don't you guys stop pretending?" Remus snarled. "We all know I'm a monster. Everyone knows werewolves are monsters. Stop trying to convince yourselves that I'm not a monster. Just say I am already because the whole 'You're not a monster' business is starting to get annoying."

James snarled and punched him. Remus groaned and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "Don't you start, Remus. Don't you dare! You are not a monster. You have never been a monster and you will never be a monster. Stop calling yourself one."

Remus whimpered. "Stop lying to me."

Growling, James grabbed Remus's collar and pulled him up so they were face to face. "How many times are we going to have to say this? You're not dangerous and you are not a monster. You're far from it. You nice, helpful, and smart. Nothing like a monster. You just have a…uh…..a furry little problem once a month."

Remus whimpered. "James…."

"I don't want to hear it, Remus." James snarled. He dropped Remus back onto the bed.

The boys fell into silence for a few minutes. Remus stared at his hands and avoided all eye contact with his friends. He couldn't look at them.

"So, next full moon, we'll come with you to keep you company." Sirius said after a few minutes.

Remus's eyes snapped to him. "No, you won't. I'll kill you. I have no control when I transform. You were idiots to become Animagi."

"We just wanted to help you." Sirius said.

Remus mumbled something under his breath that made James tackle and pin him to the bed. He leaned down so he was nose to nose with Remus. "What the hell did I just tell you?" James asked angrily.

"James, you hurting me. My wounds haven't exactly healed completely, you know." Remus whimpered in pain.

"I don't care." James retorted. "Now, I want you to say again what you just said under your breath."

Remus struggled under James. "Get off me."

"Not until you tell me." James hissed. He glared at Remus. "Say it now."

"Monsters don't deserve help." Remus moaned in pain.

James's grip on Remus's arms tightened. "Never say that again."

"I don't lie, James." Remus retorted.

"Really? Because all I've been hearing since last night are lies from you." James said.

"Remus, why do you keep calling yourself a monster?" Peter asked.

Remus's eyes moved to him. "Because that's what werewolves are."

"According to the Ministry of Magic, but the Ministry doesn't know anything about werewolves. They are just prejudiced because they are scared. If they actually got to know people with this curse then they would realize they are wrong. You are not a monster. You never have been." Peter replied.

"Remus, we are your friends and even if you can't see or believe it, we can. You are not a monster." Sirius said.

James got off Remus and sat on the trunk at the end of the bed. He looked at Remus and frowned.

Remus sighed. "Whatever. You still aren't coming with me. You guys won't be able to control me. I don't want to hurt you guys."

"Remus," Sirius said.

Looking up, Remus saw Sirius transform into a dog and pounce on him. The dog pinned him to the bed and growled in his face.

Remus groaned. "I get it Sirius. You are big."

"Remus, we are more than capable of controlling you. Let us come just this once and if it doesn't work as well as we think it will then we will never come again. Come on, Remus. We spent three years working on this. It will be a waste if we can't try." James pleaded.

Peter smiled. "And besides, even if you don't let us come, we'll come anyway."

Remus sighed. "Fine, one time but if it doesn't work, then never come again."

Sirius transformed back and hugged Remus tightly. "Thank you! It will be a grand adventure and will help you greatly, I promise!"

Remus laughed and pushed Sirius off of him.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	6. One Shot 6: Friends I

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nothing!**

**A/N: I'll warn you now. I didn't proofread this chapter. Why? Because it is too long! It's 49 pages and I don't want to put myself through the teacher of proofreading it, especially since it is 12:15 at night and I'm tired.**

**Marauders One Shots**

**Thanks for the Reviews!**

**Year 1**

**One Shot #6: Friends I**

"See ya, Snivellus!" A boy's voice shouted as a red-haired and green eyed girl and a boy with greasy black hair and dark black eyes came out of a compartment. The girl slammed the door shut and pulled her friend away from the compartment.

A boy with light brown hair and gold eyes stepped to the side to let them pass him. He looked pale and sickly-looking and was wearing old and patched robes. The boy moved passes him as if he didn't even see him. His friend, though, saw him and stopped to look at him. "If you're looking for a seat, I would avoid that compartment." She pointed to the compartment she and her friend just came out. With that said, she followed her friend.

Curious, Remus entered the compartment the girl said not to. He wanted to see why this compartment was bad. There were only two black-haired boys in it. One had messy black hair, hazel eyes with round glasses, and was scrawny. The other boy would be described as handsome by girls. He had grey eyes and black hair that went down to just pass his ears. They were both wearing new robes and looked like they came from new rich families.

The one with glasses and messy hair looked at him as he entered. "I thought you were Snivellus."

Remus blinked. "Snivellus?"

"Greasy-haired git," The grey eye boy explained, looking at Remus now.

Remus frowned. It was rude to call someone that just because of his hair. If they called him that just because they didn't like him, what would they do to him if they found out his deep dark secret?

This deep dark secret made him extremely dangerous to humans…..at least once a month. It was why he thought it wouldn't be possible for him to be able to attend Hogwarts. But with Dumbledore as headmaster, he was allowed to. Remus really thought that Dumbledore was insane to allow him to attend Hogwarts. Because of Dumbledore allowing him, Remus respected him greatly.

Five years ago, Remus was bitten by a werewolf. Because of that, every month during the full moon, Remus has to go through the painful transformation into a werewolf. He loses his mind when he is a werewolf and becomes highly dangerous. If he isn't locked up before the transformation, then he would go around attacking humans, killing them or possibly turning them into werewolves as well. Remus couldn't live with himself if he ever bit someone else, which was just as good. If he ever bit or killed someone and he was discovered, he would be sentence to death by the Ministry.

"Are you going to come in or what?" The grey eyed boy asked annoyed.

Remus looked at each boy. They both had a cocky, arrogant, prideful, and calm air around them. He really wished he could be calm and cool like that, but he grew up being isolated so wasn't anything like that. Looking at each them, Remus wasn't sure if he wanted to sit with these boys. He should have listened to that girl and gone passed this compartment.

The black haired boys looked at each other and sighed.

"Look, person-who-we-don't-know, are you going to come in or not?" The hazel eyed boy said.

Remus wasn't sure of what to do. He really didn't want to sit with them, but he didn't want to leave like a coward because he was afraid to sit with a couple of loud and cocky boys. Why should he be afraid of them? They were his age, but he came from a poor family, which one could tell by his old and worn robes.

Sighing, Remus entered the compartment, pulling his old and tattered trunk in behind him. The hazel eyed boy jumped up and helped Remus put his trunk in the rack above Sirius. Remus sat by the window, opposite of James and Sirius. He shifted uncomfortably.

"James Potter." James held his hand out.

"Sirius Black." Sirius also held his hand out.

Remus stared at them, shock on his face.

James and Sirius looked at each other in confusion. "What?"

"Potter and a Black? Together and the compartment hasn't blown up yet?" Remus asked shocked.

Comprehension dawned on the boys and they laughed as they retracted their hands.

"You're talking about our families, right?" Sirius asked with a huge grin.

"Yeah. Our parents probably won't be happy when they realize that we are friends. Our families are huge enemies after all." James added with his own huge grin.

Remus raised a brow. "You two are weird."

James and Sirius bowed. "Thank you, person-who-we-still-don't-know."

"Insane." Remus muttered.

"So, who are you?" James asked, ignoring the insane comment. He and Sirius sat down.

Remus shifted uncomfortably again. These two both came from powerful and rich families that hated each other, but that didn't stop them from making friends with each other. He wished he could be confident like they were. He was sure that soon these two would be insulting him for the state of his robes. It was so obvious that he was poor. Why haven't they insulted him yet?

"So?" Sirius prompted.

"Remus Lupin." Remus said so quietly that the boys didn't hear him.

"What was that?" James asked.

Remus cleared his throat. "Remus Lupin." He said louder.

Sirius knitted his brows together. "Lupin? I know that name."

"I do too." James frowned. "Your family disappeared a few years ago."

"They used to be rich and powerful in the Ministry like our families are." Sirius said. He and James looked at the state of Remus's robe and trunk, which made Remus glance at the door.

Remus blushed and stood up. He didn't want to talk about his family problems or for these boys to insult him for being poor now. The only reason he was poor now was because his parents have been using all their money to look for a cure for lycanthropy. It was all his fault that his family was poor now.

"Where are you going, Lupin?" Sirius called.

James stood up and pulled Remus back inside the compartment. "Look, we don't care about the fact that your family is poor. My parents raised me better to look pass that. I wasn't raised like Sirius to think that everyone is below me."

"Oi!" Sirius protested before pausing. "Actually, you are right. That is how I grew up. Forget I said anything."

Remus blushed, but sat back down. He stared at the floor as James and Sirius began to talk about Quidditch. He shuffled his feet nervously. Apparently James played Chaser and Sirius played Beater.

"What about you, Lupin? Do you like Quidditch?" James asked.

Remus kept his eyes trained on the floor. "I've never played or seen a game of it." He said quietly.

"How could you never have played?" James said shocked. "Your parents are both magical. Surely you would have at least seen a game or played with kids that live near you."

Remus's whole face was red by now. "My family lives in the middle of a forest. No one lives by us there and my family doesn't own a broom so I've never really flown."

James and Sirius gaped at him.

Remus sent another glance at the door. These boys were really making him uncomfortable.

"Stop looking at that door." James said.

"I don't make for very good company." Remus muttered.

James waved the comment off. "Sorry, we were just surprised that you've never seen a game or played. I thought you had some relative that plays International."

"My uncle, but he disowned us a few years ago." Remus said quietly, but his voice took a dark tone to it.

James and Sirius looked shocked at the dark tone. They were under the impression that voice was too gentle and soft to be able to be that dark.

"Why did he…"

James elbowed Sirius before he could go farther. "You don't ask someone something like that. It's private." He hissed.

Before any of the boys could say something to make the tense and uncomfortable silence go away, the compartment door was opened by a kind looking lady. "Anything off the trolley?"

Sirius, James, and Remus looked at the trolley of candy and were practically drooling at the sight of the candy. Sirius and James got up immediately and started to get a bunch of candy. Remus shifted in his seat and looked out the window, trying to ignore the fact that there was any candy at all.

James noticed that Remus stayed in his seat and frowned. Just by looking at his robes, James didn't need to ask if Remus was going to get any candy. He already knew that Remus would say 'no' and just leave it at that.

Sirius saw Remus stay in his seat and sighed. He knew that Remus would face mockery from others because of his robes. It was the way kids were.

Remus jumped a little in surprise when he felt a bunch of tiny packages being dropped into his lap. He looked down to see candy packages in his lap. When he looked up, James and Sirius were sitting down and tearing open their candy.

"What is this?" Remus asked quietly.

James frowned at him. "You know, mate, if you're going to make it in life, you have to speak up."

Remus blushed and looked at the ground.

"And stop looking at the ground when you are talking to people." Sirius ordered. "Don't show fear. Show confidence by looking at everyone and talking loudly."

Remus pushed the candy off his lap and looked out the window.

"The candy is for you." James explained. "We brought it for you. We thought you might like it."

"Why did you buy it?" Remus asked. "I can't pay you back."

James and Sirius looked surprised at each other again. This was just getting ridiculous.

"You don't have to pay us back. We can afford it and besides, you're our mate. Don't mates do this kind of thing for each other?" Sirius asked, brows knitting together.

"Yes, yes they do, Sirius." James said.

Remus smiled shyly. "Thanks, I guess."

"Good god, man! Speak up!" Sirius demanded, jumping to his feet. "I will not go through seven years at Hogwarts with one of my best mates talking to his shoes and so quietly that not even a dog can hear him."

Remus looked up at him with wide eyes. "Best mate?"

"Don't make me repeat myself! Speak up!" Sirius growled.

James laughed. "Sheesh, Sirius. He's not going to learn to speak up in one hour."

"He will if I say he will." Sirius said. He grabbed Remus by the shoulders and started to shake him. "Speak up! Yell if you have to! Just stop talking like a weakling."

Remus stared wide eyed at Sirius. "Uh…."

"That's not talking!" Sirius screamed. He dropped Remus and walked out of the compartment.

Remus blinked and stared at James. "What was that?"

"I think Sirius is insane, but that's just a theory." James shrugged and grabbed a chocolate frog. "Have you ever had a chocolate frog?"

Remus grinned. "Yes, I love them. My mom says I'm a chocoholic though and tries to keep all the chocolate hidden or not have any in the house, but my dad always gives me some. He and I have a chocolate stash at home. Mom hasn't found this one yet. She has found our last three hiding spots."

James laughed. "That is the most you've said today."

"But it was still quiet! You aren't talking loudly yet!" Sirius screamed from outside the compartment.

Remus jumped. "I thought he left."

Sirius came back into the compartment. "And leave all my candy here? Are you nuts?"

Remus shrugged and grabbed a chocolate frog. "I was hoping so because I wanted it."

"Stay away from my candy. You have your own!" Sirius yelled, standing protectively in front of his candy.

"Insane." Remus muttered.

The train shook violently from hitting a bump in the tracks. This bump made James's and Sirius's trunks to crash out of the racks and fly open. Out of both of them, fireworks came flying out and whizzing around the compartment. James, Sirius, and Remus screamed and dived off their seats to avoid them. This resulted in the three boys colliding heads and tripping over their trunks.

Remus shook the pain off. He was used to pain so it didn't bother him as much. He stood up and opened the compartment door and let the fireworks whiz out of the compartment. He slammed the door shut and turned to his new friends. "I don't want to know."

James and Sirius grinned, but those grins didn't last long. The next bump caused Remus's trunk to fly open and books to rain down on them.

Remus laughed and grabbed one of the books off the pile. He sat down and began to read it and eat his candy, while James and Sirius sorted themselves out.

"Books? Who the hell has this many books, Remus?" James growled as he pulled himself free.

Remus laughed. "I do. I like reading."

"Great, we befriended a bookworm, James." Sirius said.

"You should really tell people you are a bookworm when you meet them, Remus." James said. Remus looked hurt at them so James hurried on. "I'm not saying it is a bad thing."

Sirius looked at James incredulously.

"It isn't." James told him firmly. "It's actually quiet convenient that our little Remus is a bookworm."

"Little!" Remus said angrily.

"It is?" Sirius said at the same as Remus spoke.

"Remus, have you looked at yourself? You are really small. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were at least eight or nine." James said.

Remus huffed. "At least I'm not scrawny."

"Are you saying I'm scrawny?" James asked.

"Yes, yes I am." Remus replied, sticking his tongue out.

"I'm not scrawny."

"Yes, you are and Remus is small." Sirius said. "Now, tell me how Remus being a bookworm is a good thing."

"I'm not scrawny/small!" James and Remus yelled together.

The three boys looked at each other and laughed.

Sirius sat down in his seat and kicked a few of the books away from him, making Remus glare at him. "Well, Remus finally raised his voice. Let's hope he keeps it like that."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"As I was saying, Remus being a bookworm is a good thing. He can help us get the spells we need for our pranks." James explained. "Having a bookworm is essential to a pranking team. They can be very helpful."

"Pranking!" Remus cried. "I don't prank."

He jumped to his feet and moved towards the door, but Sirius grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Remus lost his balance and fell onto the books and trunks. "Ow."

"Too late, Remus, buddy, mate. You are ours now and we are going to prank together. It'll be fun." Sirius said, already realizing that James was right.

"But I don't want to get in trouble." Remus whined. His head was tilted back because of the pile he was on. He was looking at James's mischievous smirk.

"Don't worry about that." James said. "We don't plan on being caught."

Remus sighed. He stood up and began to gather his books up. He stood on the seats and stuffed them back in his trunk before snapping it shut. With that done, he sat back down on his side of the compartment. "I'll think about helping you."

James and Sirius grinned. "Well, we want to pull a prank during the feast, after the sorting of course."

Remus sighed. "I know I will regret this, but what is your idea?"

"Do you know any spells yet, Remus?" James asked.

"I did read about a few and my dad taught me some. He was a prankster when he was at Hogwarts so all the spells he taught me, he said could be used for pranking. They are relatively simple ones though." Remus explained.

James smirked. "Well, we want to start the year off with a bang. Let the teachers know that there are new pranksters at Hogwarts."

"Is that what those fireworks were for?" Remus asked.

"Well, they weren't for the prank during the feast." Sirius said.

Remus raised a brow. "Really? I thought you could have used them for…" He slapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from continuing.

"What was that, Remus?" James asked.

"Nothing." Remus mumbled.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"

Remus looked at the compartment door in complete shock. "What was that about?"

"I think it was….Ugh!" Sirius yelled as Remus's books rained on him and James again. "Remus, I have had it with your books!"

"It isn't my fault." Remus jumped to his feet which probably started all the chaos that followed.

James jumped to his feet at the same time as Remus. They banged into each other, making them fall. James kicked the still open trunk of Sirius's when he fell. This caused the Fanged Frisbees to fly out of the trunk. They attached themselves to James's leg and Sirius's arm. Sirius swore and jumped out of his seat at this point, which sent all the books flying off the seat and hitting James and Remus. When he jumped up, Sirius's feet hit James's opened trunk, which someone caused a few more fireworks to start whizzing around the compartment.

"What the hell is going on in here?" A girl's voice screamed when she saw the three boys lying on the ground with fireworks whizzing around, Fanged Frisbees attacking, candy thrown all around, three opened trunks, and books and clothes covering every inch of the compartment.

"Andromeda." Sirius cried and jumped to his feet. He ripped the Fanged Frisbee off his arm. "What are you doing here?"

"Who the hell is Andromeda?" James asked as he stood up.

"My cousin, she's probably the only decent person in my family. She is also Head Girl." Sirius explained.

James nodded his head. He took in her brown hair, light brown eyes, and Slytherin robes. If Sirius said she was okay, he would trust him. Behind Andromeda, James saw the Head Boy and a few Prefects, all of which looked a bit dazed from getting attacked by fireworks in the corridor.

"What are you three doing?" Andromeda hissed.

"Making our first train ride to Hogwarts memorable?" Remus suggested from the floor.

Andromeda looked at each boy and exhaled slowly to keep her temper from coming out. "You three are going to be trouble."

Remus groaned. "I told you two idiots I didn't want trouble."

"Then next time, think before you associate yourself with a Black and Potter." Andromeda told him.

"Already regretting it," Remus said.

"Are you going to get up?" James asked.

"Maybe later. I'm kind of tired right now." Remus replied, before going limp.

Sirius and James peered down at him. The former tapped Remus with his shoe. "I don't believe it." He cried. "He fell asleep."

"Sirius," Andromeda said.

"Yeah."

"I let you three off with a warning this time, but stop causing such a ruckus." Andromeda ordered. She looked around the compartment. "And clean this place up."

"Kay." Sirius replied. He looked at James. "What do we do with Remus?"

"Throw him on the bench." James said. He threw all the candy on the opposite bench before helping Sirius lift Remus onto the bench. "He's not heavy."

"Boy needs to put some weight on." Sirius replied.

By the time Remus woke up, it was beginning to get dark outside and the compartment was clean again. He looked over to see James and Sirius playing Exploding Snap.

"Evening Remus." James said.

"Remus, do you know you can sleep through anything?" Sirius asked.

"My mom has told me I'm a heavy sleeper." Remus replied quietly.

Sirius screamed and threw all his cards down, causing a big explosion. "What did I tell you about…."

"Sirius, cut it out in there. I told you to keep it down." Andromeda yelled through the door.

"What did I tell you about talking quietly?" Sirius hissed.

"Not to do it. I'm supposed to talk loudly, yell if I have too." Remus replied with a roll of his eyes.

"And remember that." Sirius said. He looked out the window and sighed. "We're getting closer."

James looked at his friends. "What's wrong? You should be excited."

"I'm a Black, though. I'm heading to Slytherin. There's no point in me even going to the sorting." Sirius said.

"Not necessary." Remus said.

James and Sirius looked confused at Remus.

"Don't you know there is an exception to every rule?" Remus said with a smile. "You may be a Black, but that doesn't mean you have to go to Slytherin. And if you do, I'll still be your friend."

James grinned. "Me too, mate. It's not likely that we'll be in the same house, but we'll still be friends."

Sirius smiled at each of his friends. "Now, about your idea using fireworks for our prank, Remus. What is it?"

Remus sighed. "I should have kept my mouth shut. Here's my idea….."

When they reached Hogsmeade, the boys led their fellow first years to a big, hairy man with beady black eyes.

"Who are you?" James asked.

"Name is Hagrid. I'm Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." Hagrid explained.

"Cool. I'm James Potter. They are Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." James motioned to each of his friends.

"Nice to meet you," Hagrid said. "Is everyone here? Good, follow me!"

Hagrid led the first years along a dark path surrounded by trees. After walking for what felt like forever for Sirius and James, the path opened up to a magnificent sight. A castle stood towering over them. The only thing between them and the castle was the huge lake that was lined with boats.

"Four to a boat. No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid called at them.

James and Sirius grinned and ran to the nearest boat. They jumped in it, making it shake and the water ripple around the boat. Remus climbed in more slowly. They were soon joined by a fourth boy with mousy brown hair and watery grey eyes. He sat next to Remus.

As the boats started to move, Sirius and James leaned over the edges. "I heard there is a Giant Squid in the lake."

"Do you think we'll be able to find it?" Sirius asked.

"I hope not. I heard it eats kids." The new boy said.

Sirius snorted. "Dumbledore is not about to allow something will harm students on Hogwarts ground."

Remus paled and began to want the Giant Squid to show up and drown him.

"I hear there are all types of horrible creatures in the forest." James whispered eerily. "And to see which house you belong in, you have to go into the forest and get an animal. Whichever animals you catch, shows which house you belong to. But there are so many evil beings in the forest that not many students make it out alive. Those that do are almost always…." James leaned in closer to the new boy. "POSSESSED!"

The new boy jumped in fear.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Come off it, James. You're scaring him." He pushed James away, but this caused James to lose his balance and fall into the lake. "Whoops."

James broke the surface of the water on the other side of the boat. He coughed a little. "Remus."

Remus whistled innocently.

James smirked and pulled Remus into the lake when he held his hand out to help James back into the boat.

"You prat! You did that on purpose!" Remus hissed when he broke the surface of the water.

"You pushed me in."

"On accident."

"Alright ye two?" Hagrid asked as all the boats came to a halt.

"Never better!" James called back.

Once James and Remus were back in their boat and the boats started moving, Remus turned to the wide eyed boy. "The sorting is just putting a hat on. It yells out your house."

"That's lame." James said.

"Whoever told you that is lying." Sirius added.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Care to make a wager on that?"

"Oh, you're that sure?" James asked.

Remus nodded his head.

James and Sirius smirked. "Here are the terms, if the sorting is just putting a hat on, you can pick something Sirius and I have to do. If it isn't, we pick something you have to do. Agreed?"

"It can be anything I want?" Remus asked.

"Yes, you have to do anything we say." James said.

"Agreed." Remus smirked and shook hands with James and Sirius. He turned to the new boy. "I'm Remus Lupin and these two idiots are Sirius Black and James Potter."

"P-peter Pettigrew." Peter shook hands with each boy.

After they reached the castle, the students were greeted by Professor Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher, Gryffindor Head of House, and the Deputy Headmistress, also known as the woman with way too many titles as dubbed by Sirius. She gave them a speech about the houses, then left after shooting James and Remus annoyed looks for playing in the lake.

"Be ready to pay up, Lupin." Sirius said.

"No way. I know I'm right." Remus argued with a smirk.

Peter screamed in shock. Everyone looked around. About twenty ghosts had entered the room through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing.

What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

Nobody answered so James jumped forward. "New students. Who are you?"

"Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower." Remus explained calmly, like he didn't care about everyone looking at him now. "Each house has its own resident ghost. Besides the four resident ghosts, there are hundreds of ghosts here. They are all relatively harmless. The only one you have to watch out for is Peeves. He's a Poltergeist and loves to pull pranks. There is also a ghost here called Binns. He teaches History of Magic. He died one night in his sleep. When he got up the next morning, he just walked out of his body."

James and Sirius stared at Remus. "How the hell did you know that?"

Remus smiled. "I met Professor Dumbledore a few weeks ago. We got into a huge conversation about it."

"You met him?" James asked shocked.

Remus shrugged. "Yep."

When McGonagall returned, she led the students into the Great Hall where all the second year and above students were waiting. McGonagall placed a stool and an old hat in front of the Head Table. After an amazing song from it, McGonagall addressed the students. "When I call your name, you will place the sorting hat on your head and sit down."

James and Sirius felt their mouths drop open.

"NO WAY!"

"DAMN IT!"

Everyone looked at the front of the line at the three boys. Remus had his hands planted firmly over James's and Sirius's mouths and was grinning sheepishly at McGonagall.

"Is there something you boys would like to share?" McGonagall asked stiffly.

"No, I don't think so." Remus replied just as Sirius licked his hand. "Ew. That's gross, Sirius."

Sirius grinned. "I have something to ask. Is this…Ow….damn it, Remus. That was my foot."

"Well, good, because that was where I was aiming." Remus shot back.

James smirked. "We were just wondering if this…Ow….what the hell is your foot made of, Re?"

"Bone, flesh, blood, you know, the same thing as yours." Remus paused. "Firstly, yes this is really the sorting method. Secondly, I win the bet, so HA! And thirdly, DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME RE AGAIN! NO ONE DARES TO CALL ME THAT!"

James stared at Remus in a stupor. "You don't have to yell."

"I think you busted my eardrums, Re." Sirius added, shaking his head.

Remus's eyes twitched. The only reason Sirius wasn't dead yet was because of James holding him back by his robe.

Peter looked between the three. "How did you three become friends?" He asked in astonishment.

McGonagall's lips were super pale and thing at this point and her eyes were slits. None of the students have ever seen her this mad.

"POTTER, BLACK, LUPIN! SHUT UP NOW OR I WILL GIVE YOU DETENTION!" McGonagall yelled with a new volume of loudness.

The three boys looked at her with ringing ears while everyone else clutched their ears.

"Can you really do that before the term officially begins tomorrow?" Remus asked curiously.

McGonagall glared at him.

"Shutting up." Remus pretended to zip his lips shut.

"If you three continue like this, I will make it possible to give you detention today." McGonagall hissed.

James, Sirius, and Remus nodded their heads.

"Good. Now, we will start with the sorting."

"Avery, Aidan."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Black, Sirius."

Sirius strolled confidently up to the stool, but on the inside he was nervous. He didn't want to go to Slytherin. He wanted to be different from his family.

_Another Black? Suppose you want Slytherin._

_Not really._

_Really? That's a first. Let's take a look in here. You don't fit the qualifications for Slytherin. Smart, but you don't like learning, do you?_

_No! Books are evil._

The hat chuckled. _A loyal friend, I see. But that's not all. You have a brave soul, especially to go against what your parents say. You have a lot of daring as well with that plan of yours._

_So, where am I going?_

_Hmm, I think I know the perfect place for you._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius whipped the head off his head with a huge grin. He failed to notice the annoyed look that McGonagall was wearing as he bounded over to the table with undisguised excitement.

Remus and James cheered loudly for Sirius from the group of first years. Their friend had broken away from his family.

"Evans, Lily." McGonagall called a few names later.

Remus noticed the girl that told him to stay out of James's and Sirius's compartment.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Almost your turn, mate," James whispered to Remus.

Remus groaned. "Don't remind me." He shook his wet bangs out of his face.

"Nothing to be nervous about," James whispered. "You can be in any house and Sirius and I will still be your friends."

"Listen to me, if I am put in Slytherin, we are setting the hat on fire and I'm leaving this school." Remus said with a wry grin.

James laughed. "Remus, forget about houses for now. Think about all the fun we can have in the next seven years, despite being in different houses."

"Potter, Lupin, shut up! Don't make me tell you again." McGonagall snapped.

James and Remus looked at each other and chuckled.

"She's going to be our opponent for the next seven years." James whispered.

"She's going to be tough to beat." Remus whispered back.

"Makes it even better," James replied.

"Lupin, Remus." McGonagall hissed.

The teachers and Dumbledore sat up straight and looked intensely at Remus, curious as to where Remus would go. Where would the Sorting Hat put a werewolf?

Remus looked up at her angry face and didn't move from his spot. "She looks mad."

"She probably is." James laughed.

"LUPIN!"

"You might want to go." James said.

Remus grinned at him and moved up to the stool. He raised a brow at her. "Aren't you a cat Animagus?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" McGonagall asked.

"I was just making sure I was correct in my thinking." Remus explained.

McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose. "Seven years of this. It's only seven years."

Behind him, Remus heard James snickering.

"Stop stalling, Lupin! I'm hungry! Get yourself sorted already!" James yelled.

Remus laughed and sat on the stool with the hat on his head.

_Ha!_

Remus jumped a little in surprise.

_So you're the werewolf that I was told about._

_Please don't say anything!_

_Don't worry that isn't my job. My job is just to sort you. You don't trust easily because of the prejudice in the world against you so Hufflepuff is out._

_That's obvious._

_I am just doing my job. You don't need to get cheeky._

_I was just saying._

_You could be a Ravenclaw. You love learning and read all the time. You could be a Ravenclaw with your brains._

_That works I guess._

_I'm not done yet. Stop being impatient._

_Sheesh! Were you like this with Sirius? Or do you just get more irritable the more students you have to sort because you are getting annoyed with all the kids you have to sort. It must be scary having to go through all their minds._

_Will you just let me sort you?_

_Sorry, I was just curious._

_Stop being curious. I have other students to sort and this whole process is taking too long._

_So then just sort me._

_For being a dark creature, you could go to Slytherin._

_I disagree! I refuse to go to Slytherin._

_I was simply saying that is where a dark creature might go._

_Well, I don't want to go there._

_I'm not done anyway! Let's see, you must have a lot of bravery to deal with your lycanthropy for five years. Most people would have given up, but you didn't. You also have to be daring to protect that Pettigrew boy against your friends when they were trying to scare him before you even knew who he was. Yes, you definitely have the signs of a Gryffindor._

_Look, hat, I don't mean to be rude, but can you hurry up? I'm getting hungry._

_Are you always like this?_

_Like what?_

_Rude and always interrupting people._

_No._

_Then why are you now?_

_Because you are in my head so you are just hearing my thoughts._

_But you are the one in control of your thoughts._

_So? It's not like you have to look at my thoughts._

_Stop arguing with me._

_I'm not. I'm just saying…I mean thinking!_

_I shouldn't have to deal with this every year. I think I should retire._

_But you're a hat!_

_What's your point?_

_Well, you're a hat. A magical hat, at that. You can't really quit from sorting. It's your job._

_Well, maybe I think sorting kids is stupid._

_Why?_

_Why do you think?_

…_.Because kids can change as they get older?_

_Yes! They may start off as loyal, but maybe they will betray you in the end. What kind of loyalty is that?_

_So if you think sorting is stupid, why don't you just stop doing it? You know, go on strike and refuse to sort anyone._

_Interesting idea. I should try it sometime._

_Try it sometime while I'm at Hogwarts. I think it would be funny to see._

_We're getting off track._

_Off track from what?_

_Your sorting._

_Well, it's an interesting conversation._

_How did it even start?_

…_..I can't remember. Hey, what do you think would be a good name for McGonagall in her cat form?_

_Why?_

_So I have something to call her when she is a cat._

_Figure it out for yourself, just don't let McGonagall hear whatever it is you and your friends come up with. She won't like it._

_My friends will probably tell her. They love trouble._

_A warning, kid. McGonagall is not someone to mess with…STOP GETTING ME OFF TRACK!_

Remus jumped in surprise and fell off the stool.

James winced when he heard Remus's head connect with the ground. What the hell was going on with Remus and the hat? He looked at Sirius to see him smiling in amusement while the other students laughed at Remus.

Remus, oblivious to everything going on around him, sat Indian style on the floor. He rubbed his aching head. _What did you do that for?_

_You were getting me off track._

_That didn't mean you had to yell in my head. What are you trying to do? Give me a headache?_

_You know, I've had it with you._

_You know, you are interesting to talk to._

_That's it! Get out of here!_

_But how? You haven't sorted me yet!_

_One of these days, I will go insane._

_But you're a hat._

_What are you…stop distracting me._

_Sorry, I just think it's fun to talk with you._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus laughed and took the hat off.

"Don't come back, kid." The sorting hat called after him as he walked away.

Remus laughed more and moved over to the Gryffindor table.

"What was that about?" Sirius laughed as he made room for Remus.

"The hat and I were having an intriguing conversation." Remus explained.

Sirius laughed. "I think the hat is annoyed with you."

"Oh, it is." Remus replied.

Soon, Peter Pettigrew joined the two at the Gryffindor table and it was James's turn.

James sat on the stool.

_Potter? Well, this will be easy. I have never sorted a Potter that wasn't a Gryffindor. But we should have a look just to be sure. Black, after all, got sorted differently. Brave and daring, hate the Dark Arts, loyal to your friends, this is just a waste of my time. Go and join you friends in…._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

James jumped off the stool and joined his friends. "Well, it looks like we are all together. What are the chances?"

"Look at McGonagall. She doesn't look happy about having us in her house at all." Sirius hissed.

Remus, Sirius, and James looked at McGonagall. They each grinned innocently and waved at her.

"What took you so long with your sorting? You were up there for about twenty minutes. The teachers were beginning to look worried." James said to Remus.

Remus shrugged. "The hat and I were talking."

"Why did you fall off the stool?" Peter asked curiously with a smile tugging at his lips.

Remus rubbed his head like he had a headache. "The hat unexpectedly yelled in my head."

"The hat has quite a temper then?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Will your four be quiet? I'm trying to listen to the sorting." Lily hissed at them.

"Why?" Sirius asked smugly. "Worried about your boyfriend up there?"

Lily glared at him. "He's not my boyfriend, just a friend."

"Denial, denial, denial," James shook his head in a slow, patronizing manner. "It's not a good thing, Evans."

"You guys are the biggest prats I have ever had the misfortune to meet." Lily growled. She turned back to the sorting with crossed arms and a scowl in place.

Remus disapprovingly shook his head at his friends.

"What?" James asked.

"That was rude." Remus replied.

"Who cares? She was being annoying." Sirius said.

Remus sighed. "Do you know McGonagall is a cat Animagus?"

"How do you know?" James asked.

"My dad told me and I just confirmed it with her before I got sorted." Remus explained.

"Oh, so that's what you two were discussing." James said.

Peter looked up at the sorting. "McGonagall looks mad."

Remus didn't bother looking up from his empty plate as he thought. "At us."

"Yep."

"It's yes." Remus corrected.

Peter blinked. "What?"

Remus sighed and looked at Peter. "You say yes, not yep."

"What are you? A grammar freak?" Peter asked with a raised brow.

Remus blushed.

"You are!" Sirius said. He and James began to laugh.

"We could have fun with this." James wiped a tear away from his eye.

Scowling, Remus aimed a kick at each of his friends. "Shut up."

"Snape, Severus."

"Hey James, it's Snivellus." Sirius hissed, pointing at the sorting.

James looked up to see Snape putting the hat on. "I feel sorry for the kids who have to go after him."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Have you seen his hair? It's all greasy." Sirius explained.

"I hope the hat will be washed thoroughly after this." James said.

"I hope they get a new hat. That grease will never come out." Peter said.

James and Sirius roared with laughter, making Peter smile and Remus frown. McGonagall sent them another glare.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Oh, big shocker there." James said dryly.

Lily sighed as Snape headed to the Slytherin table. She sent him a sad smile.

"Don't worry, Evans. You'll still see your boyfriend." Sirius said.

Lily scowled at him. "Do you ever shut up?"

"No, he doesn't. Just ignore him, Evans, or punch him in the face. Neither will get him to shut up, but you get the pleasure of punching him." Remus said.

Lily gave Remus a small, amused smile. "Your name is Remus Lupin, right?"

"That's me." He gave her a small grin.

As the last student was sorted into Hufflepuff, Dumbledore stood up. "I am sure you are all hungry so I will not hold you from your feast with words from an old man. I just have one thing to say, twitter bug."

Food magical appeared on the table as soon as Dumbledore finished speaking. The boys filled their plates high with food.

Lily looked disgusted at Sirius and Peter, who were stuffing their faces and talking while chewing. James was laughing at them. Seeing that Remus looked disgusted too, Lily turned to him.

"What do you like to do, Remus?" She asked sweetly.

"I like reading." Remus dragged his eyes away from his friends to look at Lily. He looked happy for the distraction.

"I do too. It's a great way to pass time." Lily replied.

Remus swallowed the food in his mouth before replying, "Are you a Muggle-born or do you have magical parents?"

"Muggle-born."

Remus smiled. "Did this come as a shock to you?"

"It did. Severus saw me do magic and he told me all about magic a while ago. When he first told me I was a witch, I was offended." Lily said.

"I imagine you would be. Isn't a witch in the muggle world an evil person who can do magic and potions? They aren't considered nice people, right?" Remus asked before taking a bite of his chicken.

Lily nodded her head.

"Didn't Muggles also burn witches when they found them?" Remus asked.

Lily smiled brightly. Her green eyes sparkled with happiness. "Yes. I didn't expect anyone here to know that. How do you know?"

"Well, I read a lot, not just books from our world, but also Muggle books. My mom is a Muggle-born and dad is a Pure-blood." Remus explained.

"Do you live in the Muggle world?" Lily asked, remembering that Sirius does.

Remus thought for a moment. "Not sure. My house is in the middle of a forest."

"Where do your parents work then?" Lily asked curiously.

"They work at the Ministry together in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." Remus said.

Lily smiled and put her goblet down. "So you must know a lot about magical creatures then."

Remus nodded his head. "They taught me all about them so I know how to deal with them if I meet any. What about your parents? What do they do?"

"My mom stays at home with me and Petunia, my older sister. Dad is a teacher." Lily replied. "I got my love of reading from him."

"Reading is something I found on my own. My parents would rather be out doing something dangerous. They are adventurous people. I started reading because there is no one around the area I live in to play with." Remus said.

"Which I think makes it the perfect place to play Quidditch in." Sirius butted in.

"Flying through the trees would be great too." James added.

Lily scowled at them. "We were talking."

"You can't exclude us from joining in." James said.

"Though I don't know why we would want to join in. You're just talking about books and parents." Sirius said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"We are free from our parents so let's forget about them and have fun." James added.

Lily glared at them. "Who asked you?"

"No need to get mad. We are just saying." James said.

"Is there a reason you two interrupted us?" Lily hissed.

James smiled. "Of course. We need Re."

Lily huffed and turned away from them. She looked at the new girls in Gryffindor and began talking with them.

Remus glared at him. "What did I say about that name?"

"Nothing." Sirius replied innocently. "You yelled, loudly might I add, not to call you that."

"So, why did you?" Remus asked.

"Well, Re." James started.

"I'm warning you, James. Cut it out." Remus growled.

James frowned, then smirked. "What are you going to do if I don't, Re?"

Remus stood up, grabbed the gravy dish, and leaned over the table. "I dare you to call me that one more time."

James laughed. "You don't have the guts, Rem."

"To be put in Gryffindor, I need to have daring, Jamesie." Remus turned the gravy dish upside down over James's head.

"REMUS!" James roared at he jumped to his feet, dripping inn gravy.

Sirius and Peter burst out laughing. "Nice look, Jamesie."

Students all around him looked at the four boys and laughed at James.

James wiped the gravy out of his eyes. "Who knew we could make this much progress with Remy in a few hours?"

"Don't call me that either." Remus snarled.

"You're no fun." Sirius said.

"Potter, Black, Lupin, are you three quite done causing a ruckus?" McGonagall asked from behind Sirius and Remus, who both jumped in surprise. They turned around to face an extremely mad teacher.

Sirius smirked. "Are you kidding? We're just getting started. We have seven years here and this place needs all the chaos we can offer it." He jumped onto the table when he was finished saying this. He pulled his wand out. "Hey Remus, what was the spell I need again?"

Remus sighed. Were they really going to do this in front of everyone? "_Aguamenti_."

"Righty-O!" Sirius said cheerfully. He pointed his wand at James. "_Aguamenti_!"

The water washed the gravy off of James.

"Thanks Remus." James said, flicking his wet bangs off his forehead.

"Hey, I was the one who did it." Sirius said.

James rolled his eyes. "But Remus is the one who knew the spell."

"But I'm still the one who did it!" Sirius objected.

"But it's only because of Remus that it got done." James argued.

Remus sighed and crossed his arms. "Will you two stop? I thought we had something we wanted to do."

James climbed onto the table. "We do."

McGonagall narrowed her eyes. "Get down from there now and stop this foolishness."

James grinned. "Not yet." He grabbed Remus's collar and pulled him onto the table. "You have to take part in this since this was your idea."

"Which I will forever regret," Remus said. He looked over at the Head Table to see all the teachers looking at them curiously, some with narrowed eyes and annoyed looks. Dumbledore, though, had a twinkle of amusement in his eyes and was making no move to control the three. "You know, we are going to get killed for everything we have done today, right?"

"Most likely so let's make our time here worthwhile." Sirius said. He looked at his cousin, Andromeda, to see her shaking her head at him, but with an amused look. "Whenever you are ready, Remus. You're the one who knows how to do most of the spells."

Remus pulled his wand out and pointed it at the ceiling. Having been taught some spells by his dad, Remus knew he could pull this prank off. He whispered a spell that created a gust of wind that blew all the candles out, sending the Great Hall into darkness.

Sirius pulled out the fireworks that James found in his trunk and handed some to James, which was hard seeing as it was so dark. Apparently, James's dad had modified them and wanted them set off. None of the boys actually knew what would happen when they were set off. The note just said that they could be set off with water.

James and Sirius began to whisper after they jumped off the table and placed the fireworks on the table where they knew they were. "3….2….1….now!" They both shouted _Aguamenti _at the same time. When they saw the spark that showed the fireworks were lit, they jumped away from them.

The fireworks blasted into the sky, getting everyone to look up at the bright lights. Everyone's faces were lit from the fireworks so the boys could see their astonishment and smiling faces. One of the fireworks spelled out 'Welcome to Hogwarts' in bright gold, red, and white lights. Another of the fireworks was a giant gold and red lion. The next was a blue and bronze eagle. The next was a black and yellow badger. And the last one was a silver and green snake. After those, a bunch of fireworks went off and started making a lot of noise and flying around the Great Hall.

When all the fireworks stopped, the candles were relit by Dumbledore, who had stood up at the Head Table and was smiling at the boys. "What a grand start to a new term at Hogwarts! I can say that I have never seen a feast like this one here."

Remus smiled, but Sirius and James laughed.

"Thank you, sir." James said.

"Mr. Lupin, would you care to get off the table?" Dumbledore asked, amusement clear in his voice. He didn't sound like he really cared if Remus got off the table or not.

Remus blushed at being spoken to by the Headmaster in front of everyone, but made no move to get off the table. "No, I kind of like it up here."

"Well, if you like it." Dumbledore sat back down and went back to his dinner.

James and Sirius snickered.

"Lupin, get off the table." McGonagall ordered.

Remus shrugged and jumped down next to his friends.

"Now, you three I have had it up to here," McGonagall raised her hand as high as she could. "with you and your mischief making ways and it's only your first day here!"

Remus sighed and sent his friends an annoyed look. They just grinned at him.

"What's wrong with wanting to have fun?" Sirius asked.

Stream could practically be seen coming out of McGonagall's ears. "You three will be serving detention for the next week!"

Remus groaned and smacked each of his friends. "I blame you."

"You were just as much involved in everything that happened today as we were." James hissed.

"Boys, sit down before I decided to take house points away before there are any house points to take." McGonagall growled.

The boys quickly jumped into their seats when they saw their housemates glaring at them. It wouldn't do to anger their housemates before term even began.

At the end of the feast, Dumbledore stood up again and gave his speech about the list of forbidden objects on Filch's door, the Forbidden Forest being off limits, the new Whomping Willow, and introducing the new Defense teacher. "Before we leave for a well deserve rest, let us sing the school song."

The teachers smiled. The song was enjoyable and the students always sang it fast so they could get out of there.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

James looked at Sirius and Remus and smirked.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot."

James, Remus, and Sirius were the last ones left singing since they chose to sing very, very slowly and they dragged out the last line when they saw the teachers frowning at them. When they were finished, all the teachers but Dumbledore were thinking the same thing. Oh, how they hated the school song and hoped they never had to hear it again.

"Music, a wonderful gift to us all." Dumbledore said, smiling brightly at Remus when their eyes met. He was sure Remus had found good friends and would learn to have fun and be a kid without worry of his lycanthropy. "Now off to bed!"

The fifth year Prefects approached the first years of their house and led them out of the Great Hall.

"This place is so big." James said to Remus, Peter, and Sirius.

"Think about all the fun we can have here." Sirius added. He looked at the portraits they passed.

"This is school, not a playground." Remus argued.

James waved a hand at him. "Think about all the secret passages that this place holds."

"I can't wait to start exploring it." Sirius said.

Remus sighed.

"I don't see what the problem is, Remus. We are kids after all. Isn't this the type of thing kids do? You're acting like an adult." Peter said.

Remus frowned.

"He's right." James said. "Where is the fun person from the Great Hall?"

Remus scowled. "He left after getting a week of detention."

Sirius and James sighed dramatically. "We have work to do on this one."

Remus rolled his eyes.

The Prefects leading them stopped in front of a painting of a fat lady in a pink dress on the seventh floor. "This is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. The password is Moon Shine."

The painting swung forward and the students entered it. After being directed to their dorm, James and Sirius ran up the stairs and were yelling that they wanted the bed next to the window.

Remus rolled his eyes and went up the stairs with Peter more slowly.

"NO!" James and Sirius yelled.

"IT ISN'T FAIR!" Sirius bellowed as he barged down the stairs. He ran into Remus, knocking the smaller boy back down the stairs and into Peter who was behind him. Peter, Remus, and Sirius tumbled down the stairs and into the other boys who were trying to make it upstairs.

James ran down the stairs to find the pile of male students. "Are you guys okay?"

"What was that about?" Remus groaned.

"It isn't fair that you get the bed next to the window." Sirius pouted.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Remus yelled. He pushed himself out of the pile and glared at Sirius. "YOU KNOCKED ME DOWN THE STAIRS BECAUSE OF THAT! I WOULD CONSIDER SWITCHING BEDS WITH YOU TO MAKE YOU HAPPY BECAUSE I DON'T CARE BUT AFTER THIS, YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT THAT!"

Sirius slowly inched away from Remus. "Sorry."

Remus sent one last glare at Sirius before pushing pass James and going upstairs.

"He has a good set of lungs." James muttered.

"I really think he broke my eardrums this time!" Sirius shouted.

James frowned. "You don't have to scream."

"What?" Sirius screamed.

James sighed, shook his head, and went upstairs with Peter following him. Sirius, confused as to what was going on because he couldn't hear, followed them. Not one of them decided to check on the boys still lying on the floor.

"Hi Rem…." James stopped when he entered the dorm. "He's asleep!"

"How can he be? He slept for hours on the train! How is it possible that he is asleep already?" Sirius shouted.

Peter slammed a hand over Sirius's mouth. "Will you be quiet? He's sleeping and he needs all the sleep he can get."

"Why?" James and Sirius asked.

"Are you two blind? You've been with him all day, haven't you? He is horribly pale and sickly looking." Peter said.

James and Sirius looked at Remus. They noticed his pale and sweaty face.

"Well, that sucks. I'm sure he'll be fine after a good night's rest." Sirius said. He jumped onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling. "My parents aren't going to be happy with me."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"I'm a Black. I was supposed to be in Slytherin." Sirius explained.

James took his robe and shoes off. "Aren't you happy with us in Gryffindor?"

"Extremely."

"Then who cares what your parents think?" James asked.

Sirius smirked. "Good point. I do enjoy pissing them off."

"Which makes it obvious why you are in Gryffindor. It takes guts to stick up to your parents." James said.

"So tired, so tired, so tired." Peter muttered to himself as he made his way to his bed next to James's. He collapsed on top of his duvet in a dead sleep.

"Two down." Sirius said.

"Make that three." James said. He climbed under his covers, not bothering to finish getting undressed.

Sirius shrugged and kicked his shoes off. He pulled his robe off and blew the candles out with the same spell he heard Remus use earlier to blow all the candles out in the Great Hall. As Sirius's head hit his pillow, he knew for a fact that he had made three friends today and they would make the next seven years at Hogwarts amazing.

**A/N: Impossibly long. Impossibly long. This did not turn out the way I was planning and took too long to write! I had a different plan for this one. I'll just have to write another one shot with the correct idea.**

**Anyway, you notice that Remus was really quiet and shy at the beginning of the chapter, then he started talking more and got more confidence that he would argue with the hat, talk with McGonagall, etc. I should explain why this is because I don't think everyone will be able to understand it. If you can, hooray for you! The reason for Remus acting different is this: Our friends give us our confidence. Remus got more confident because of his new friends. Plain and simple as that.**

**Please Review! **


	7. One Shot 7: Aftermath

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Marauders One Shots**

**A/N: I know Snape found out about Remus in their fifth year, but I chose to do it in their sixth year for this one shot. I do a proper one some other time. **

**Thanks for the Reviews!**

**Year 6**

**One Shot #7: Aftermath **

_Why did this happen? Why did he have to do that? _Remus mused. He was lying in the Hospital Wing, recovering from the full moon. He shifted on the bed so he could see out the window across from him.

James and Peter were with him when he woke up. When he woke up, James told him what happened last night. Sirius had told Snape how to get pass the Whomping Willow. Snape came to the Shrieking Shack last night and he almost killed him. Sirius called James on the mirror after he told Snape which gave James time to get to the Shrieking Shack. It was a close call but they both escaped.

Remus stared in horror at James and Peter when James finished. He was a raving, lunatic monster who almost killed innocent people last night. And Sirius! That….that…bastard betrayed him and gave his darkest secret away!

After he saved Snape, James ran inside with him and was met by Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Sirius. They all went to the Headmaster's office. There, Snape was sworn to secrecy about Remus's secret and if he gave it away, he would face expulsion. He lost fifty points for his house. Sirius received a month of detention and made Gryffindor lose all its points. Then James was awarded fifty points for his bravery.

When James finished the story, Remus told him and Peter to leave him alone. James gave him a distraught look, but complied with his wishes and left the Hospital Wing with Peter.

When Remus returned to school the next day, the whole school knew something happened between the Marauders and Snape, but didn't know what. How did they know something happened?

Well, the massive loss of house points and Sirius being in detention for a month had to do with them knowing. But it was also because the Marauders weren't picking on Snape or pranking. They were barely talking to each other.

James and Peter were having trouble forgiving Sirius. All their conversations were awkward and difficult. James knew he was sorry because he called him right after he told Snape because he knew it was mistake. He was also not asking for forgiveness because he didn't think he deserved it.

For Remus, it was like first year all over again. He absolutely refused to talk to anyone. He was furious at Sirius so he avoided him. James and Peter were also on his list of people to avoid at all costs. He wasn't mad at them, but he didn't want to put them in danger anymore.

Sirius sending Snape down the Whomping Willow really opened his eyes. He was a dangerous, raving monster who had no right to be around humans. He was a danger to them all. No longer would he put any human at risk. His friends would no longer come with him on the full moon. He would not put their lives on the line anymore.

If isolating himself and giving up on having friends was the way to protect them and keep them away from a monster, then that is what he would do. No one would ever have to be worried about being harmed by him again.

While Remus was working on isolating himself, James was trying to hold the Marauders together. With Remus avoiding them, Sirius feeling terribly horrible about what he did and not thinking he deserved friends anymore, and Peter and himself wanting to kill Sirius for what he did, it wasn't going well.

Sirius was quiet as of late. He didn't try to draw attention to himself anymore. If he did, he was afraid he would see Remus and have to see the hatred and anger in his eyes directed at him. He didn't…..couldn't face Remus after what he did. He made a horrible mistake that night, and he knew he would always regret it. Nothing was going to be the same anymore, not after that night.

Not once did he think about the consequences until James confronted him after he saved Snape. Why didn't he think about them before? Is he really that much of an idiot? Snape could have been killed. He betrayed Remus. James could have been killed. He betrayed the Marauders. Remus would have been executed if he killed them. He betrayed his best friends. He tried to lie to James about why he told Snape and ended up sounding like his family. He betrayed his _brother._ He would have been expelled if Snape was killed.

What the hell was he thinking?

Who was he asking?

Why was he asking?

He already knew the damn answer.

Nothing.

That was what he was thinking. He was thinking about nothing.

James watched Sirius at Quidditch practice a few days after the full moon. He was completely distracted. He wasn't paying any attention to what was going on. Anyone could tell that, even strangers, because he kept getting hit by bludgers, missing them, or not noticing them flying passed him.

As captain and his best friend, James knew he would have to talk to Sirius. They couldn't go through the rest of their Hogwarts life like this. "Practice is over!" He yelled.

The team stopped what they were doing and stared shock at James. He never ended practice early. He even made them stay late before. But when they looked at him, they saw him looking at Sirius. None of them wanted to get between the Marauders. It wasn't safe, as they learned from past fights between the four friends, so they quickly got off the field.

"Why did you end practice?" Sirius demanded when the team was gone.

"You weren't concentrating. You're the best Beater I have and the best friend someone could ask for. I hate that you betrayed the Marauders and especially Moony. You really hurt him." James growled, angry lacing his voice.

Sirius's gaze hardened. "What is it you want?"

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier. "I want things fixed between us. I know you feel terrible about what you did and are really sorry."

"It doesn't change a thing. I still told Snape. No matter how sorry I am, it won't change the fact that I told Snape and almost got him, you, and Moony killed." Sirius argued.

"That's why I've forgiven you." James said.

Sirius stared blankly at James. "What?"

"I've forgiven you because you are truly sorry, hate yourself for what you did, and are no longer trying to make up excuses to why you did it. You know you deserved every punishment you got and think you no longer deserve our friendship so you are letting us go. Because of that, I'm ready to mend things between us." James explained, smiling at his friend.

Sirius gaped at him. "You don't hate me?"

"To be honest, I do hate you right now, but only because you hurt Moony really bad. He probably feels like you stabbed him in the heart and twisted the knife all around, causing him so much pain." James grimaced. He held his hand out. "But you're the first friend I made at Hogwarts and I want to work pass this. The past can't be changed, but we can work to make a better future."

Sirius grabbed James's hand. "Thanks Prongs." He frowned. "But Moony won't forgive me. The only time he stays in the same room as me is when we're in class or we're sleeping."

"Don't worry, Padfoot. I'll talk to him. I've given him a few days to think and be alone, which is what he really needed I think." James replied.

Sirius sighed. He wasn't so sure about that.

*Break*

"Moony!" James called when he saw Remus in the hall a couple hours later.

Remus stopped and looked at James. Pain flashed through his eyes. He shook his head at James and turned back around. He couldn't stay friends with him. He couldn't even be around him or he would end up talking with him.

"Moony?" James asked in a hurt voice when Remus started to walk away. He knew Remus heard him because he looked at him. He ran to catch up with Remus and stepped in front of him so he couldn't continue walking away from him.

"I have to study." Remus said firmly before James could say anything. He pushed James out of the way and continued walking to the library.

"Moony, I have to talk to you." James said, catching up to Remus again.

"It can wait. We have an exam in Potions soon and I need to study." Remus replied stiffly.

James sighed. He knew how Remus could get when he needed to study. If you were with him, he ended up making you study too. "Fine, we can talk later."

_Not likely._ Remus thought as James left. Unshed tears shined in his eyes. It was time to isolate himself again.

Later that night, Remus walked into the common room with drooping eyes. He was exhausted after all those hours of studying.

"Where have you been?" James demanded when he saw him. It was two in the morning. He had been waiting for Remus to return all night.

Remus jumped at the sight of him. He thought he would be the only one still awake at this hour. "Patrolling." He relied stiffly.

James narrowed his eyes. "No Prefect patrols at this hour. They are sleeping, like the rest of the castle."

Remus bit the inside of his cheek. He and James both knew if they started talking about this, they would end up talking all night. "I'm going to bed."

"Moony, I have been waiting all night to talk with you." James said.

"It is late. I won't be able to comprehend what you want to talk about." Remus argued and moved over to the dorm stairs. "You can wait a few hours and I'm sure you want to go to bed too."

James watched one of his best friends run up the dorm stairs in shock. Remus just blew him off twice! What was wrong with his friend? Did he hate him too? He didn't even do anything. He just wanted to help.

When he woke up the next morning, James was surprised to see Remus already gone. He looked at the clock to see it was six in the morning. Remus wouldn't have gotten that much sleep if he was gone already.

"Have you talked to Moony yet?" Peter asked at dinner.

"Not yet. I haven't had the chance." James replied. He didn't tell them about Remus managing to give him the slip three times. They didn't have to worry about Remus avoiding all of them.

Sirius gave him a skeptical look.

James either didn't notice it or chose to ignore it. He began looking up and down the table for the familiar head full of tousled brown hair. Where was he?

"Who are you looking for?" Peter asked when he saw James looking up and down the table.

"Probably Evans." Sirius scoffed.

James rolled his eyes. "I haven't spoken to Evans in a few weeks, Pads."

Sirius raised a brow skeptically.

"She wants to be left alone." James shrugged. In truth, he and Remus spoke a few weeks ago about why Lily refused to date him. Remus explained to him it was because he was arrogant with a big head that had no respect for anyone but himself in Lily's opinion and she hated that he hexed everyone in sight that annoyed him. Him messing his hair up when he sees her is also annoying to her. She also found it annoying that he asked her out all the time and most of the time in embarrassing ways. Because of that, James decided to leave her alone and stopped hexing people. He would do anything for her. She was the love of his life.

Sirius and Peter stared in shock at James. Never before had he left that poor girl alone.

"I'm looking for Moony." James said. Remus had managed to avoid him all day, even though they share all but one class together. He couldn't figure out how he missed him.

"I haven't seen him all morning." Sirius said worriedly.

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked down the table and his eyes were drawn to the vivid red hair that he loved so much. "Be right back." He got up and moved down to Lily and her friends. "Evans."

Lily turned to glare at him. She was wondering when he would come to bother her again. Ever since he made her lose her friendship with Snape at the end of their Defense O.W.L last year she has hated him much more. "What, Potter?"

"Can we talk in private, please?" James asked, giving her friends a wary look.

Lily looked taken aback. James has never once asked for a word in private. He always liked to get attention, the attention seeking prat. "Why?" She asked cautiously.

James looked at her friends again. "I'm not going to do anything, I swear, Evans. I just want to talk. I'm not here to ask you out."

The pleading in his tone made Lily stop glaring and stared at James calculating eyes. Not once has she heard him plead. Pleading was something he probably found weak. It was because of that pleading that she resigned herself to do this. "Sure, but if you try anything I won't hesitate to hex you."

James held his hands up. "I swear I'm not going to do anything."

Lily nodded her head and followed James out of the Great Hall. Her hand slipped in her pocket and she fingered her wand. She just wanted to be careful. After dealing with James for six years, she learned to always be prepared when it was Marauders involved.

James led Lily outside and to the beech tree that he and his friends always sat under. They sat down together and James stared out at the lake.

"Well, what is it that you want?" Lily demanded. James asked her to talk to him and now he wasn't saying anything so it annoyed her.

James glanced at her. "I'm sorry. I have a lot to tell you and I'm not sure where to start."

Lily raised a brow.

"Okay, I want to say sorry to you first of all. Sorry for all the times I asked you out, embarrassed you, for making you mad, for calling you all those silly nicknames that you hate, for making you lose your friendship with Snape, and for all the students I hexed. I am a boy and was immature. Remus and I had a conversation a few weeks ago and he opened my eyes. I am extremely sorry, Evans, for everything." James explained, looking at her with deep hazel eyes full of remorse, worry, and true pain for what he has done.

Lily stared into James's eyes so full of emotion that she had to accept the apology. "Okay, Potter. I know you are sorry. Is that why you asked me out here? You couldn't tell me this in front of everyone else?"

"No, I can, but the other things I want to say I can't." James sighed. He tugged at his hair. "Lily, can we start over, please?"

"You called me Lily!" She said shocked, eyes wide.

"It's your name." James replied with a shrug.

Lily smiled gently. She pushed her hair behind her ear as she stared at this new and approved James. Hopefully it wasn't an act or he would wish he was never born. "I guess. It's best to start anew."

James grinned. "Hello, I'm James Potter." He held his hand out.

"Lily Evans. Nice to meet you, James." Lily shook James's hand, though there was a slight laugh in her voice at this act.

"So, do you think we can be friends now?" James asked hopefully.

"I think so as long as you stop asking me out and hexing people." Lily replied.

James nodded his head and looked back at the lake. "I also wanted to….."

"What?" Lily asked curiously.

James stiffened. "Lily, what do you know about why Moony disappears all the time?"

"Moony? That's what you call Remus, right?" Lily asked slowly.

James nodded his head.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "What do you know about it?"

"I know everything there is to know about him. I need to know what you know about Moony before I can go any farther." James said with narrowed eyes. "He's my best friend, practically a brother to me. You shouldn't think that I don't know the truth."

Lily frowned. She really hoped that James knew what she was about to say or Remus would be furious with her. "Remus is a…" She looked around to make sure no one was listening to them but since it was dinner, no one was outside. "werewolf."

"How did you find out?" James asked.

"I patrol with him. He's my fellow Prefect and he's my friend. You don't think I could put the connections of when he disappears together?" Lily asked angrily.

"Relax, Lily. I'm not calling you dumb, because you're not. You are very intelligent. It's just that I wanted to know if Moony told you or if you found out on your own like we had to. He thought we would abandon him when we found out." James explained in a soothing voice. As cute as he thought Lily was when she was mad, this was not the time for her to get mad.

Lily smiled sadly. "He was really scared when I told him I knew, but I assured him that I wasn't going to end our friendship, that nothing was going to change between us."

James nodded his head. "I always knew you were a good person." He paused and looked at the lake again. "Padfoot, that's Sirius, did something really stupid the other night, allowing a fifth student to learn Moony's secret."

"Severus?" Lily asked.

James stared at her confused. "How did you know?"

"He's been trying to figure out where you four go each month since the beginning of fifth year." Lily stared at James with a penetrating gaze. "What do you mean that Black did something stupid that made Severus's figure it out?"

"Well, do you know where Remus goes for the full moon?" James asked quietly.

"Under the Whomping Willow to The Shrieking Shack." Lily answered immediately as if she couldn't refuse to answer a question.

James nodded his head. "It seems he really trusts you to tell you all that." He sighed and ran a hand nervously through his hair, not noticing the annoyed look that crossed Lily's face. "Padfoot told Snape how to get passed the Whomping Willow the last full moon and Snape went under it and met Moony as a werewolf."

"He did WHAT?" Lily screeched and jumped to her feet to go hex Sirius.

James grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her back down. "Please, don't kill Padfoot. He made a mistake and he knows it. He feels terrible and doesn't think he deserves forgiveness or our friendship. He's not even asking for it because of that."

Lily nodded her head but still looked furious.

"After he told Snape, Padfoot contacted me to get to Snape to save him because he knew he made a mistake. I managed to save Snape, but he saw Moony. Dumbledore swore Snape to secrecy. This is why we lost all those house points." James explained.

Lily nodded her head. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I know you are a good person and even though I don't know much about you, I trust you greatly. And besides that, you're great friends with Moony and deserve to know what is going on with him. And Moony would never tell you any of this. He's scared, worried, upset, mad, and doesn't know what to do. Basically, he's lost." James explained. He sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he looked intensely at Lily. "And you deserve to know why Moony is avoiding you all of a sudden."

Hurt flashed in Lily's eyes. "How do you know he is doing that?"

"He's avoiding us too." James replied, putting a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder. "He won't be avoiding you for much longer though, at least I hope not. I need to talk to him and make him see sense and help him through this betrayal. But he's been able to give me the slip ever since yesterday. If you see him, tell me. I really need to talk with him and fix this."

Lily nodded her head. "Okay James. I'll tell you where he is, but that means I can't talk to him because if I try to he'll just walk away from me. I don't like getting the cold shoulder from him."

James smiled warmly at her. "I'll make sure he knows that." He stood up and dusted himself off. He turned to Lily and offered her a hand. "How about we go back to dinner?"

Lily smiled and took his hand. When she is standing, she turned her back to James so she can wipe the tears that filled up in her eyes away. "Can I please hex Black when I see him?"

"You'll get in trouble and I don't want that. It will ruin your perfect record." James replied.

Lily sighed. "Good point. Will you hex him for me?"

"I just made up with him yesterday and I did promise myself to stop hexing others, so I don't think I can, Lily." James replied.

Lily smiled. "Thanks for sticking to your promise."

James led Lily back into the Great Hall, talking to her about Transfiguration. The Gryffindors and many of the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and teachers stared at them in shock. Lily Evans and James Potter having a nice conversation with no yelling or slapping! What was the world coming to? It must be the apocalypse.

"I'm having a little trouble in Transfiguration. I just can't get the handle of Human Transfiguration." Lily was complaining. "And I think it might be on our final exam."

"I understand it. Do you want me to help you?" James asked.

Lily agreed to let James help her because she heard no arrogance or eagerness, just general concern and wanting to help. It sort of reminded her of how Remus talked with her when she was upset and complaining to him.

"So, do you want to meet in the library after dinner to work on it?" James asked.

"Sure, and thanks, James," Lily replied.

James nodded his head and left her with her friends so he could get back to his friends.

"What? Did she finally say yes?" Sirius asked shocked when James reached him and Peter.

James shook his head. "No, we just agreed to start over and be friends."

"I don't think I know you anymore." Sirius laughed.

James rolled his eyes and playfully punched Sirius's arm. "Just be careful. I told her about what happened the other night with Snape and she's mad at you."

Sirius stopped laughing immediately and glared at James. "Why did you tell her about that?"

"She's Moony's friend and deserved to know, plus she knows about Moony's furry little problem." James hissed quietly.

"Oh." Sirius said, staring down at his plate with a frown.

"By the way, Prongs, Moony came in here while you were talking with Evans. He was only in here for ten minutes before leaving." Peter said. He raised a brow. "He didn't even glance at us. What is going on?"

James chewed on the inside of his cheek. He looked away from his friends and down the table. His eyes locked with the concerned ones of Lily. He told her, so he should tell his friends too. "Moony is avoiding me and always manages to slip away when I try to talk to him."

"I knew he could never forgive me." Sirius replied sadly.

"I'm not done yet, Padfoot. I promise I will talk with him and fix everything between us." James said. "Just don't break any rules, sneak out at night, or hex anyone, especially Snape because if you do and Moony finds out, I don't think there will be any hope for him to forgive you."

Sirius nodded his head and sighed.

It seemed getting Remus to talk to him was going to be harder than he thought. Remus was a slippery one. If he couldn't avoid James, he made excuses to why he couldn't stop and talk when James tried to stop him. Those excuses ranged from studying, doing homework, that a professor needed him, he was too tired, etc. He certainly learned how to get himself out of sticky situations he didn't want to be in from Sirius, Peter, and James, and was now using it to his advantage. Never in his wildest dreams did James think Moony would use that skill and all his Marauding skills that he obtained over the years to get himself away from everyone.

Two weeks. That was how long ago the full moon was. Two weeks! And James still couldn't get Remus to stop and listen to him. The Marauders were missing their witty, sarcastic, and fun friend and Lily was missing her caring, loving, helpful friend.

Not wanting to break his promise to any of his friends, James tried harder and harder to get Remus to listen to him. Remus retaliated by disappearing almost twenty-four/seven. James was beginning to worry for his friend. When he saw his friend in class, he looked absolutely horrible. He had huge, dark bags under his eyes and looked skinnier than usually. It didn't look like he was eating a lot. The lack of food and sleep were taking a toll on Remus, anyone could see that.

James sat on the windowsill in the common room an hour before dinner, staring at the window three weeks after the full moon. Remus still hasn't given him a chance to talk to him, and it was becoming bloody frustrating.

"James, I thought you said you were going to talk to Remus." Lily said sadly when she came up to him.

"I am going to as soon as I can get him to listen to me." James replied.

"It's been three weeks. Do you think he will ever listen to you?" Lily asked.

James sighed, but didn't take his eyes off the window. "I don't know. He might not ever come back to us if that is what he wants." He heard Lily make a soft, upset sound at the thought of losing her friend. "But I won't let him. I'll get him back to us." He took a deep breath. "I'm trying. But he knows how to avoid me. I'll talk to him eventually. If not during the school year, then I'll go to his house during the summer and force him to talk to me."

Lily smiled. "I had no idea you were this loyal to your friends."

"As I said before, he's like a brother to me." James replied. His eyes traveled over the grounds of Hogwarts. He saw a lone figure out under the moonlight and stars sitting on a boulder in front of the lake. "But I don't think I will have to do that. I think it is time for Moony and I to have that talk, whether he wants it or not."

James jumped off the windowsill. He bumped into Lily, not realizing she was so close to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lily." He made sure she was okay before leaving the common room.

Remus sat on a boulder outside, staring up at the stars. It's been three weeks since the full moon when he was betrayed. Those three weeks have been tough. He hasn't been able to get much, if any, sleep, because he was having nightmares about the last full moon. What if he had bitten one of them or killed them? What if Sirius did hate him and didn't care about his friendship at all and that is why his told? What if everyone hated him? With the lack of sleep and food, these thoughts were becoming more and more real to him.

Why did his life have to be so complicated?

"Moony!"

Remus felt himself jerked from his thoughts when he heard his nickname being called. He looked towards the castle and squinted in the darkness to try to see the figure that was coming towards him. It was James jogging down the slope towards him.

Not wanting to come up with another lie to give James, Remus hopped off the boulder and began walking farther away from the castle. Why couldn't James just take a hint and realize that he doesn't want to talk to him ever again!

"Moony, stop! Please!"

Remus stopped walking and looked back at James. He really missed being with his friends. After having friends for six years, Remus realized how hard it was to draw himself away from them. It was hurting him greatly to isolate himself. He had to continuously tell himself it was to keep his friends safe to keep himself away from them. James chasing after him all the time was making it hard to stay away though.

Shaking his head, Remus turned away from the castle and James. He couldn't stay here any longer, not with his friends here. He was a dangerous monster. Why did Dumbledore even invite him to attend school here? He had to have known the dangers of allowing a monster to attend Hogwarts.

Taking a deep breath of the cool spring air, Remus began to run. Run away from James. Run away from Hogwarts. Run away from his friends. Run away from the past. He always ran. It was the easiest thing to do. It may have seemed cowardly, but it was so much easier than facing his problems.

He looked behind him to see that James picked up the speed to catch up with him. Taking another shuddering breath that filled his lungs with the cold spring air, Remus ran into the Forbidden Forest. He needed to get James off his trail before he could leave. If he left now, James would only follow him.

Tree branches whipped all around Remus as he ran deeper and deeper into the forest. He could lose James easily in here, especially since James was so far behind him.

Just as Remus was about to reach a clearing he knew about in the forest, he heard a sound. It sounded like hooves hitting the ground. He feared that he was in the centaur's territory. He didn't think he could have run all the way there in a few minutes and missed the clearing.

Before Remus could process his thoughts about the hooves more, he felt himself being tackled to the ground. His momentum and the speed of the person tackling him sent them skidding across the ground. Remus felt himself slam into the ground in the clearing. That didn't feel good.

While he was in his dizzy and delirious state, the person who tackled him sat on his legs and pinned his wrists to the ground at his sides.

"Geroff," Remus growled, struggling under the weight of the person on him. But from the lack of food and sleep and the run he just took, Remus didn't have the energy to struggle for long and soon gave up.

Remus started to breathe heavily. His body couldn't take this anymore. He opened his eyes to meet the concerned look of James. "How?"

"Four legs are better than two, Moony." James replied.

"Can you let me up?" Remus asked. He was beginning to get uncomfortable with James's weight on his legs. His legs were probably all black and purple by now. "I think my legs are bruising."

"Then maybe you'll think before you run next time." James retorted.

Remus sighed. "Fine, can you get off me now?"

"And how will I know that you won't run again when I let you up? To be honest Moony, I don't want to chase after you again." James replied, staring down at Remus. He noticed Remus avoiding his eyes and frowned. Remus has avoided all eye contact with everyone since the Whomping Willow incident. This wasn't the confident Remus that James knew and he didn't like it. His Remus was fearless and always made eye contact. His Remus was a master of emotions. He always kept them so well hidden, like he didn't care about anything. This scared Remus was not the Remus he knew.

"Moony, I need to know that you won't run again." James said.

Remus nodded his head.

James sighed and shook his head. "That isn't good enough, Moony. Not after three weeks of the torture you put me through to get you to listen to me. I know I can trust your word, so give it to me."

Remus tilted his head back on the ground to stare at the trees so he could avoid looking at James. "I promise I won't run away. I'll stay here and listen to you, James." He said, saying his friend's name for the first time in weeks.

James felt his face fall. "You called me James. We haven't called each other our real names since we got our nicknames." _Not unless something was wrong, seriously wrong or we are upset. _He added silently.

Remus continued to stare at the trees, trying very hard to ignore the confusion and hurt in James's voice. "Let me up. I gave you my word." He said in a monotone.

James got off Remus and sat in front of him. "Moony, what is wrong? You're not acting like yourself."

Remus sat up, but stared at the ground. He couldn't meet anyone's eyes.

"Moony, look at me." James ordered.

Remus shook his head. He brought his legs up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and buried his face in them. He just wanted to be left alone.

James, on his knees, moved closet to Remus. He grabbed Remus's arms and pulled them away. "Moony, look at me now." James's tone gave no room for argument, but that didn't stop Remus from trying.

"I can't." Remus said.

"And why not?" James asked.

_Because then I'll lose my resolve and plead with you not to hate me for being a monster. _Remus thought but refused to say it out loud so he just shook his head.

James frowned. Remus had always been confident. That confident being helped him to hide his furry little secret. But because of one betrayal, Remus was moving into a shell, a shell that he could hide in; hide from every single person.

"Moony, we need to talk, but I want you looking at me." James said firmly. He grabbed Remus's chin and forced him to lift his head so they could meet eyes. James was shocked to find the pain, shame, and fear in his friend's eyes.

Remus opened his mouth to speak, but slammed his hands over his mouth. He couldn't tell James his thoughts. He lowered his eyes to the ground.

"Moony, eyes on me." James said harshly.

Remus slowly looked at James.

James kneeled in front of Remus. "What's wrong?"

Remus lowered his hands from his mouth. "I….can't be friends with you anymore."

"Why?" James asked, pushing the stab of pain that he suddenly felt in his heart away.

"It's not safe. Snape coming to the Whomping Willow proved that." Remus whispered.

James stood up. He looked down at Remus with crossed arms and a frown. "So, you think you're dangerous?"

Remus nodded his head.

"A monster, you would say? A dangerous monster?" James growled.

Remus mutely nodded his head.

James narrowed his eyes. His eyes shined with distraught as he realized that he had to do something, something that would cause one he cares for greatly a lot of distress. "Oh, yes, you are very dangerous. That night at the Whomping Willow you could have killed or bitten Snape and me. You could have torn us limb from limb and enjoyed the taste of our blood as you did it."

Remus flinched.

"You could have turned us into werewolves."

"S-stop." Remus pleaded. "P-please."

James ignored him. "You could have killed us. I wonder which is worse."

Remus tried to hold it in, he really did, but James voicing all his dark thoughts hurt him greatly so he whimpered.

"We would have become monsters, just like you."

Remus violently flinched at those words.

"Maybe you could have…"

Remus jumped to his feet and took off out of the clearing, causing James to sigh in annoyance and feel even more hurt. His best friend gave him his word, and then, he broke it.

The young werewolf heard hooves behind him but ignored them. He needed to get out of here now. He had to escape it all. The truth was too painful. He knew what the truth was, but to actually hear it from a friend….that….that was just too much.

Remus just made it to the edge of the forest when he felt himself being tackled again. The two boys tumbled down the hill and to the lake. James managed to stop them in the stones before the lake as neither boy fancied a swim right now.

Groaning, Remus saw James on top him, leaning down so there was barely an inch between their faces. "You gave me your word." James hissed in his ear. "Does that mean nothing to you anymore?"

Remus groaned. His head felt like it was going to explode. "Get off me."

"No, I'm not moving until you listen to me." James snarled. "Moony, you could have done all these things, but you didn't. No one got hurt, except for you."

"No one got hurt because you were there. If you weren't…." Remus trailed off. He couldn't say it.

"Forget about 'what if's. They don't matter because I was there." James growled harshly. "Now, tell me what your plans to do now are."

Remus looked at James with eyes filled with self-loathing. "I'm going to leave Hogwarts. Dumbledore should have never let a monster come here."

James narrowed his eyes. He let go of Remus's wrists to pick him up by the collar of his shirt. He lifted him up, and then slammed him back into the stones.

*Break*

"What are you looking at, Evans?" Sirius asked. In the past few weeks he had gotten to know her better, but still preferred to call her Evans.

Lily, who was sitting on the windowsill that James was on earlier, pointed out the window.

Sirius looked out it to see two figures come barreling out of the Forbidden Forest. The one in the front got tackled by the one behind him and they tumbled down the hill, stopping next to the lake.

"I think that's Remus and James." Lily said.

"So Prongs is finally talking to Moony." Sirius said. He winced when he saw James slam Remus into the stones. "We shouldn't watch them." Sirius pulled Lily away from the window. If he had to guess, Remus just called himself a monster again and James got mad at him for that. That was how it always was with Remus. He would go into self-pity modes and the word monster came up often when he was like that. If this was like all the other times, things were going to get messy soon.

*Break*

Remus hissed and grabbed James's wrist to pull it off his shirt. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Don't you dare call yourself that again. You aren't a monster, Moony. How many times do I have to tell you that?" James snarled, slamming Remus into the ground again. He normally wouldn't resort to violence like this, but he couldn't take Remus calling himself that anymore. Ever since they found out about him being a werewolf, he has always called himself a monster when he was upset, mad, or felt he did something extremely wrong. It was getting really old and annoying.

"What? You can't accept the truth? I accepted it a long time ago!" Remus shouted, kicking James in the stomach. He crawled away from James, trying to climb to his feet as did. "Now," He was on his feet and looked over his shoulder to glare at his ex-best friend, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Mumbling angrily about strong, but stupid friends, James stood up and watched Remus running towards the Whomping Willow. "ARGH! WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN IDIOT?" He ran after his friend, not bothering to transform this time. They weren't in the forest and anyone could be looking out a tower window. He couldn't risk it so instead he pulled out his wand. "STUPEFY!

The red light shot from James's wand and hit the retreating back of his friend. He stomped up the hill to where his fallen, unconscious friend lay. Silently, he cast the levitation spell on his friend and took him over to the beech tree that he and the other Marauders always sat under. When he put his friend down, he cast another spell that tied a rope around him around the tree before waking him up.

Groaning, Remus opened his eyes to see a lit wand pointing directly between eyes. He tried to knock the wand out of the way but found that he couldn't move his arms. "James, let me go. What the hell do you think you are doing? I am a Prefect. I can put…."

"Shut up, Moony. And call me Prongs. I'm your brother, remember?" James hissed. "And I'm not letting you go if you're just going to run again." He watched as Remus glared at him, but also saw that he was slowly moving his hand into his pocket. "I don't know how much clearer I can make it, Moony." He kneeled in front of Remus. "I've said everything but you still insist that you are a monster." His cool breath hit Remus in the face like a bludger. "It was an accident." James grabbed Remus's wrist. He pulled his hand out and took Remus's wand from it.

"Hey!" Remus growled. "That is mine."

"You're too great a dueler, Moony. I have no desire to fight you right now as it would take too long." James said, putting his friend's wand in his pocket with his.

"Well, I have no desire to be tied to a tree." Remus retorted with a small spark of his old self that James immediately noticed.

A little chuckle came from the black haired boy. "Well, you should have thought of that when I told you not to run."

"Tell me, James," Remus started sarcastically. "Who would have ever thought that their _friend _would tie them to a tree?"

"You should have!" James retorted. "Don't you know me at all?"

"Oh, right, my bad." Remus said, rolling his eyes.

James nodded. "Yes, it is your bad. Honestly, Moony, I really don't get you these days. Why are you torturing yourself like this?"

"If it would mean keeping everyone safe, then I would die." Remus muttered, avoiding eye contact with James because he _knew _that he was not going to like what he said.

"You would die?" James repeated as if in a trance. He could not believe how much of an idiot his friend was. Why did he always have to be like this?

James dropped to his knees in front of Remus and grabbed his jacket in his fists. "No," he snarled. "You are not allowed to die, Moony, not until you have seen how great life can be."

To the amazement of Remus, James's voice suddenly became much quieter and softer than it has in a long time. "Until you have fallen in love, gotten married, had a kid, had a great life where you don't worry about how your lycanthropy will affect you and all those around you, you are not allowed to die. Do you understand? You have to live, Moony, even if it means forever, even if it means you are the only Marauder left. You need to live, okay? I don't want my friends to throw their lives away like that. Even in the darkest of times, there is always a light. You just got to find a way to live through it until you find that light because it will always be there. Don't waste away. Don't allow yourself to die. Just keep searching and live, okay? Can you promise me that, Moony?"

"I know that would be a difficult life, but you are strong, stronger than you even realize. It takes a really brave person to conquer that life if it ever came. You already made it this far. Please stop hurting yourself even more by trying to push us away because of one mistake. We are teenagers, Moony. We are going to make mistakes. It is all a part of growing up."

Remus bowed his head to see the hands clutching at his jacket instead. Those hands were clutched so tightly around his jacket that they had turned white. Those were one of two pair of hands that grabbed him when he tried to run in second year when his friends told him they knew he was a werewolf. The other pair that grabbed him were Sirius's. Both of them, along with Peter, have always been there for him. They stuck by him when they found out his secret, scolded him when he called himself a monster, came to see him after the full moon, helped him get caught up in schoolwork, planned pranks with him, and even became Animagi just to keep him company on the full moon and to stop him from attacking himself. They were the best friends anyone could ask for.

They were the Marauders. Many thought the Marauders were formed as a prankster group that caused as much chaos for the professors as possible. But that was a lie.

The Marauders were formed to be a group of four friends that were so close that they considered each other brothers. The Marauders was formed around dark secrets that each Marauder has. They were brothers that trusted each other with their dark secrets. That was why the Marauders formed.

So lost in thought, Remus didn't notice that James freed him from the ropes until he found himself embracing his brother in a hug. "I'm sorry, Prongs. I'm sorry for causing you so much pain these past few weeks. I promise, okay? I promise to never let myself die. I will live, no matter what."

"Thank you, Moony." James said, and found himself smiling for real for the first time in a long while. Soon, everything would be fine.

Remus released his friend and sat back on his heels. "I can't blame Sirius. He didn't even betray my secret. He just told Snape how to get under the Whomping Willow."

"He feels really bad about it. He's not making any excuses or asking for your forgiveness because he knows he doesn't deserve it. He is trying to make it so no one will look at him anymore. Haven't you noticed in class how he is not drawing attention to himself anymore?" James said.

"I know, Prongs. We were all stupid." Remus muttered.

"Well, I believe that is totally acceptable." James replied, turning his eyes to the star covered sky. The stars shined in his hazel eyes making them shine even brighter than they usual do. "We all had a couple of difficult weeks. Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive Padfoot?"

Pushing himself to his feet, Remus walked out from under the tree to see the stars and moon for himself. Looking at the moon, he noticed that soon, it would be another full moon. As he stood there, the moon shined down on him, making him look even paler than he usual was, but that also had to do with the fact that he hasn't been taking too good care of himself these past few weeks.

"I think he was incredibly stupid for doing what he did. He's been saying that he is nothing like his parents, but then he goes and does this. What does that say?" Remus asked slowly.

"That he is a stupid teenager that makes mistakes like everyone else." James replied, joining his friend under the moon.

Nodding his head, Remus continued to stare at the stars. "That it does. He feels remorse, but he never did come to apologize to me."

"He didn't think you would want to see him." James said worriedly. He hoped Remus wasn't mad about not getting an apology.

"That doesn't mean he shouldn't have come and apologized, even if I was furious with him." Remus retorted.

James looked at his friend worriedly. "Moony?"

"It's dinner, right? I could do with a good meal." Remus said, spinning on his heels to head back to the castle.

Confused at the sudden change, James followed his friend to the castle. It wasn't like his friend to just stop like that with no explanation. Did this mean that Remus was still angry with everything that happened that night?

When they entered the Great Hall, Remus looked to the spot where the Marauders usual sat together to see Sirius and Peter already there. He looked particular at Sirius. James was right. Teenagers made mistakes. He was not about to throw away six years of friendship with Sirius, James, and Peter because of one mistake that would never happen again since they all learned from it.

That didn't mean he wasn't still upset and a bit angry with Sirius though. He wanted some type of punishment from himself to Sirius.

Remus walked purposely down the alley between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw table. He was distinctly aware of James following him, but that was unimportant to him at the moment. There was only thing on his mind at this moment.

"Sirius?" Remus asked, coming to a stop next to Sirius.

Hearing his name from a familiar voice that he hasn't heard in so long, Sirius jumped to his feet and spun to face his werewolf friend. "Yes, Mo–Remus?"

Taking a deep, calming breath, Remus locked eyes with his friend for a moment. There was apprehension in those grey eyes, along with a little bit of hope.

Without warning or any hint of it, Remus's fist was suddenly meeting with Sirius's face to send the boy sprawling to the ground. The teenage werewolf clenched and unclenched his fist as he rubbed it.

Next to him, James was looking between Remus and Sirius in surprise. Actually, he noticed that everyone was staring at the scene in shock. After all, who would have expected the calm, kind, and level-headed Prefect to suddenly slug someone? He saw Professor McGonagall stand up from the teachers' table, probably to scold Remus and drag him off, but Dumbledore stopped her and whispered a few words to her when she sat down.

James was just going to start to wonder why Dumbledore would stop her from giving Remus detention when he broke the rules when the werewolf was suddenly moving to Sirius' side. If he didn't know his friend so well, he would have thought Remus would start beating Sirius while he was down.

It was a good thing he knew his friends so well. Otherwise, he would have tried to stop Remus.

Remus stopped by Sirius and stared down at the boy that was clutching his bleeding nose. He held his hand out down to the boy. "Padfoot, all is forgiven." He murmured quietly so only Sirius could hear him.

Eyes widening in shock, it took the dog Animagus a moment to grab his friend's hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. When he was standing, all he was able to do was gape at Remus for a moment.

"A-are you sure?" He asked, scared that this was a cruel joke by Remus.

Remus raised a brow. "Do you want me to leave? If so, just say so, and I am out of your life forever."

"No!" Sirius said immediately, grabbing Remus's wrist as if he was afraid he would suddenly disappear. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for it all. I should have never betrayed you like that."

Remus smiled. "Don't worry. I already said that all is forgiven."

Grinning broadly, Sirius wrapped one arm around Remus in a hug. Only one arm since his other was still holding his bleeding nose. "You're an amazing friend, Moony. Thank you." He whispered in Remus's ear. "Thank you."

**A/N: Please Review!**


	8. One Shot 8: Monster

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the song Monster by Skillet**

**Marauders One Shots**

**Thanks for the reviews! **

**Year 5**

**One Shot #8: Monster**

Remus's amber eyes watched his friends closely as they set up. Sirius was sitting behind his drums, drumsticks in his hands and arms crossed as he waited. Peter, who stood near Sirius in the back, was messing with his rhythm guitar so it would be ready when they started. Closer to the front with him was James, who was playing a few notes on his bass guitar to himself to make sure it was tuned right. Remus, himself, had his guitar strap over his shoulder with his guitar hanging down by his side as he waited for them to begin.

The only reason they hadn't started yet was because the Great Hall would be empty for a few more minutes. They were meant to play a few songs for their classmates as a form of punishment from Professor McGonagall. She got sick of detentions not doing anything so now she was forcing them to play songs for their classmates. How she knew they could play instruments he could never figure out, but this was very cruel, even for her.

"You sure you want to sing this song first, Moony?" James asked.

"Yeah, I don't really see what it matters. No one is going to know the meaning behind it, except us, the teachers, Lily, and _Snape_." The last name had to be forced out of Remus's mouth, so it was more like a snarl of the name. Even though he was angry about that person knowing, Remus didn't look once at Sirius because he would not let them fight about this again.

As the students came into the Great Hall and sat down for dinner, they all noticed the Marauders, but were not the least bit surprised. They had all heard about their punishment and were actually intrigued about this. In fact, they had all waited impatiently for dinner today to see this act. Even the Slytherins as they were expecting them to fail in this.

"This is a cruel and unusual punishment." Peter mumbled. He was the most nervous of all them about this punishment.

Sirius rolled his eyes at how nervous their friend was. He was the weakest of all the Marauders, and it was beginning to get on his nerves once more.

But, luckily, before Sirius could explode at him, McGonagall approached them and said that they could start playing.

James gave Remus a nod so the werewolf started playing the guitar with Peter following after the first cord he stroked, but it was barely noticed with how easily he dropped in. After a few seconds they were followed by Sirius beginning to beat on the drums, then James joining in on his own guitar. It actually sounded good so all the students looked up from their meals to watch the Marauders. Soon after all the instruments were playing, Remus began to sing in voice that almost didn't sound his, but was very good.

_**The secret side of me**__**  
><strong>__**I never let you see**__**  
><strong>__**I keep it caged but I can't control it**_

_Remus walked along the secret passage to the Shrieking Shack with a feeling of dread. It has been eight years since he was bitten by a werewolf and still every full moon, the same feeling of dread entered his heart. He was no longer afraid of the transformation. It has become a part of him, but he dreaded the pain and dreaded the idea that one day he might escape and bite someone, but he was not afraid. _

_With each step he took to the Shrieking Shack, the full moon became closer and closer to rising. This caused the dread in his heart to grow with each step. He dreaded every full moon. He hated the pain he was walking to. He hated walking away from school where all the kids had no worries of biting someone and giving them a curse. He hated walking from his friends after he lied directly to their faces. He dreaded the day when his friends realized the truth, because he knew he could not keep it hidden forever. They would realize what he was soon enough. But he figured he had until third year when the lesson on werewolves would take place. _

_But with each step, he also felt relief. Relief that he had a place to hide and stay safe during the full moon so no one would get hurt by him. Relief that he made it through another month without his friends finding out. Relief that they hadn't questioned his lie. Relief that soon this month's full moon would soon be over and he could go back to pretending to be a normal child for a few weeks. _

_Finally, he reached the Shrieking Shack. He pushed the trapdoor open and entered the old, shabby house. Everything in here has been destroyed by the wolf. Nothing was intact. Blood was splattered on the floor and walls. This would be his cage once more this month. _

_**So stay away from me**__**  
><strong>__**The beast is ugly**__**  
><strong>__**I feel the rage and I just can't hold it**_

_He was lying down on the scratched up couch that only had two legs left. His clothes were thrown onto the top of a cabinet with his wand upstairs. He was tense as he waited for the moon to rise. Any moment the moon would fully be in the sky and his body would know it. He was waiting for the familiar aches to come that would tell him it was time. _

_As he waited, there was also a familiar rage raging in his heart. It was the same thing every month. He would get so easily annoyed and mad around this time before the full moon. Anyone who talked to him at this time had to trend carefully or he would snap at them. He was not proud of this rage, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't stop. It was like he had no control. _

_A sharp gasp escaped his lips a moment later. His back arched as the moon finally rose. The familiar aches had turned into a hundred times worse pains. He could hear his bones beginning to snap and break for a moment before a scream drowned them out. It didn't take him any time to realize it was him yelling. He has been through this so much that he already knew it was him before he started. _

_So much pain was traveling through his body that his body began to shake violently. He had no control and he hated it. He rolled off the couch as his bones and organs began to reshape themselves into that of a wolf's. His once human face turned into that of a wolf's with a snout. The ears changed from being to the side of his head and round to the top of his head and rather pointed. His once amber eyes turned gold with anger and lust for blood shining in them. _

_It was such a painful transformation that it felt like it took hours to happen, but in fact the whole transformation took only a few minutes. But it was the worst few minutes of his life. They were filled with wails of pain that soon turned into howls as a wolf can't scream. His screams, now turned howls, were so loud that everyone in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts could hear them once more. The night of the haunted Shrieking Shack has returned once more. _

_**It's scratching on the walls**__**  
><strong>__**In the closet, in the halls**__**  
><strong>__**It comes awake and I can't control it**_

_The wolf looks around at where he was. He was alone in the same destroyed building as he was every single damn month. But like always, he runs around the house looking for prey. And like always, he finds nothing. Frustrated at not having prey to get blood from, he howls once more in anger and misery. _

_His thirst for blood becomes so much that he begins to scratch and bite at his body just so he could taste blood in his mouth. The warm liquid flows into his mouth. He relishes in the taste more than the pain he causes himself. He had no care for this body. All he wanted was blood. _

_He rolled around the floor as he attacked himself. It was like something was trying to fight against him, but he wouldn't allow that something to win. He needed this blood or he would go crazy. _

_With the madness running through the wolf, he attacked everything, not just himself. He scratched at the wall, ran into them, and attacked the chairs and beds. There had to be a way out of this cage so he could get some human blood. When none of that worked, he would go back to drinking his own blood again, then go back to trying to break out. _

_It was the same thing._

_Every. _

_Single. _

_Month. _

_**Hiding under the bed**__**  
><strong>__**In my body, in my head**__**  
><strong>__**Why won't somebody come and save me from this**__**  
><strong>__**Make it end**_

_And then, like every month, Remus found himself waking up in the Hospital Wing after a night in hell. His whole body ached and he felt slightly nauseas. Maybe it was from all the blood he lost or maybe it was the taste of blood in his mouth. His eyes stung from the sudden light that met his eyes. He shifted on the bed, hoping to find a way to block the light from his eyes, but the movement only caused violent pain to flare through his body. _

_When Madam Pomfrey did all she could to make him comfortable and lessen the pain he was in, Remus left the Hospital Wing. He had no desire to stay in there. He was not going to waste the time he had as a human by staying in the Hospital Wing. _

_As it was Saturday, he decided to go up to his dorm and sleep for a while. After his horrible night, he needed some sleep. And sleep was a good way to fall into obliviousness and forget all the pain in his body. He knew he looked horrible with bags under his eyes and being extremely pale. That was how he always looked at this time of the month. He was just glad that the other students had gotten used to him being like this as it meant they would no longer try to stop him and ask if he was okay. So now it was just a straight shot to his dorm to a very comfy and warm bed to sleep in complete obliviousness of the world around him. _

_Or that was how it was supposed to be._

_This time, the moment he entered his dorm, he found his three best friends sitting on their beds. All three of them were as pale as him, which was hard to do, and had dark bags under their eyes. It was like they had stayed up all night. _

_They looked up when Remus came in. For once there was no laughter or happiness shining in their faces. Instead, they were all depressed, fear shining in their eyes, and completely serious looking. _

_The relief that the full moon was over left Remus's heart so it could be replaced by dread when he saw their faces. It wasn't hard for him to realize what those looks meant. Even though he knew what they meant, he would not say it aloud. He couldn't. _

_So, he walked into the room, looking braver than he felt. He closed the door and went to his bed where he gently lowered himself on his back so he wouldn't agitate his wounds. _

"_Remus," James's voice carried over to him quietly. _

_A bandage wrist and hand came to cover Remus's eyes. His friends had left the curtains open so the sun coming in was hurting his tired eyes. "Yes James?" He asked, surprised at how calm he sounded. _

"_We know." James said, voice growing stronger with each word he spoke. None of them liked beating around the bush, and doing so now would just make this conversation harder. "You are a werewolf." _

_Sighing, Remus pushed himself up with his uninjured arm, turning blank eyes to his friend. He was so used to this by now that he didn't feel anything anymore. It was so hard to feel surprised, scared, or worried anymore. It just happened too much. "What are you going to do now? Going to run screaming to your parents? Tell all the students? Get me expelled? Or how about all three?" Remus asked calmly, but inside his heart was sad. He didn't want to leave Hogwarts. It was the only place that could make him feel normal, where he could be a normal child for a while. "I will save you the time. I will just leave now." _

_He stood up, and without a look to his friends, walked to the door. If he had looked, he would have seen the look that Sirius gave Peter and James that said I-told-you-so-he's-being-an-idiot. But since he didn't see it, it was up to Sirius to grab his arm and pull him back. Remus spun around to look at them with the same emotionless stare. _

"_We don't care." Sirius said, voice as strong and confident as always._

_For once, Remus looked confused. This was never how the confrontation would go. It was always accusations, yelling, and being told to leave. Never was there one where he was pulled back and told that they don't care. _

_James had to snicker when Remus looked at them confused. The snicker only lasted for a second before he became completely serious once more._

"_Remus, you are our best friend. We've known you for over a year. Why would we care now that we know who you are? You are too nice and gentle. You could never hurt us." Peter said, a huge smile on his face as Remus continued to stare at them with the same confusion and shock. _

"_Yeah, mate, stop being an idiot. Why would we want to leave you over something as stupid and small as this?" James asked. _

"_Stupid? Small?" Remus asked blankly. "I don't understand." _

"_Obviously." Sirius laughed. _

_Remus frowned. "But you looked so scared when I came in." _

"_We heard you last night." Sirius whispered. _

"_You were howling all night. We finally realized that all those howls that started in our first year was you. You were crying out in pain." James explained. "As a werewolf who is locked up with no one around, you attack yourself." He looked at Remus's bandaged hand with a frown. _

_Noticing his stare, Remus shifted his arm behind his back "You stayed up all night because of me?" _

_Peter frowned. "We stayed up all night because we care, Remus. It hurt us to hear that. We didn't want to sleep while you were out there in pain." _

_Remus looked at each of his friends. They all looked completely serious when they looked at him. They were all smiling at him now. The fear from earlier was gone as they looked at him. "You really don't care?"_

_Sirius rolled his eyes like he was saying that Remus was being stupid. "No, you prat. That's what we been trying to say." _

_**I feel it deep within**__**  
><strong>__**It's just beneath the skin**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

_Three years later Remus was struggling to get through the passage under the Whomping Willow. He swore that this passage was getting smaller and smaller with each year that went by. Or he was just getting too big. _

_With each step he took to the Whomping Willow, he felt the dread of the transformation taking over. But even with this dread, he still felt somewhat happy. Three years ago, his friends found out the truth, but they didn't abandon him like he thought he would. So every transformation he would think about his three best friends, who were like brothers to him. They would be there for him after the transformation with smiles and chocolate and stories of their pranks that happened while he was gone and everything else that happened. No longer were there lies between them. Sure, there were secrets that they didn't share, but the other Marauders became determined to find those out without asking because they found that asking just led to lies and they didn't like lies between them. _

_With a sigh, Remus climbed through the trapdoor. He deposited his robe, shoes, and wand upstairs before going to the living room where he collapsed onto the couch once more. He felt the aches in his body and he felt that rage in his heart. They were taking over his body once more as they waited for the full moon to be high in the sky. _

_His ears picked up the sound of a floorboard squeaking like someone stepped on it. It took a moment for him to register the sound. Never before had he heard any sounds besides his moans of pain and the breaking of his bones when he was in the Shrieking Shack. His eyes snapped open to see three faces grinning down at him, three familiar faces. _

"_What the hell are you idiots doing here?" Remus shouted. He pushed his friends away and sat up. "You can't be here! The full moon is going to rise soon." _

"_We know. That's why we came. We're going to help you." Sirius said. _

_Remus growled. "You can't help a monster, Sirius." _

_Sirius glared at him. "You're not a monster. Stop calling yourself one."_

_Remus rolled his eyes, but chose not to respond as there wasn't time. "Leave." He ordered. _

"_Remus," James said. "We did it." _

"_Did what?" Remus asked confused; his anger was momentarily forgotten._

_James gave Sirius and Peter a grin and nodded his head. In a moment, all three of them were beginning to shrink and change form. A magnificent stag had taken James's spot. A big black dog took Sirius's and a small rat took Peter's. _

_For a moment, all Remus could do was gape at the three animals stupidly. The big black dog snorted at the stupid look on Remus's looks, which woke him up from his stupor. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THREE IDIOTS DOING? THIS IS EXTREMELY ILLEGAL!" He yelled, anger coming back full force. "YOU COULD GO TO AZKABAN FOR THIS!"_

_James changed back, followed by Sirius and Peter. "And we don't care, Remus. This will help you. We know it will. If there are animals with you, you will be more….more sane. We can keep you in control and keep you from attacking yourself." _

"_You…."_

"_We're doing this." Peter said determinedly. "You can protest all you want, but we are not leaving." _

"_So don't waste your breathe." Sirius added with a grin. _

"_Prats." Remus mumbled. _

_**I hate what I've become**__**  
><strong>__**The nightmare's just begun**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

_It was in horror that James, Sirius, and Peter watched Remus yell in pain as the transformation began. Sirius wanted to approach him and say everything was alright and he would be fine, but James threw his arm out to stop him from moving towards him. Remus no longer knew them. If they tried to get near him, they would get hurt. _

"_Transform." James order, though his voice was hoarse with sorrow as he watched his friend be in so much pain. _

_It was an agonizing few minutes that the three Marauders were in as they watched their friend's painful transformation. All three of them wanted to jump forward to help him, but knew they couldn't be of any help to him until the transformation was over. _

_The moment the werewolf was with them, Sirius approached him cautiously. The werewolf eyed him curiously. Never before had there been animals in his cage. He has been alone forever during the full moon. What were these animals doing here?_

_The big black dog approached him. They stared each other in the eyes; each one was daring the other to make the first move. It was the werewolf that made the first move. _

_Not knowing what was going on, the werewolf pounced at Sirius. _

_**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**__**  
><strong>__**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**_

_Sirius didn't even yelp when he was tackled by the werewolf. Instead, his paws grabbed the werewolf by the shoulders to get a good hold before his back legs kicked into his friend's stomach. Surprised by the attack, the werewolf loosened his grip on Sirius. The dog used this moment to roll them over so he was on top. But he didn't go any farther than that in attacking his friend. He was here to get his friend to become sane. _

_So he let go of the werewolf. He bowed his head and nuzzled his friend's forehead in a sign of friendship. The werewolf stared back at him. __We are friends.__ Sirius gestured. _

_The stag with the rat on his head approached them now. James bowed his head to his friend. The rat walked off his head and to Remus. He raised his little paw at him. _

_**My secret side I keep**__**  
><strong>__**Hid under lock and key**_

_An angry Sirius walked down the hall. He had just received a letter from his parents, once more demanding that he join that psychotic pureblood frantic. No matter how many time he said no, they just kept pushing it on him. In fact, they were becoming more and more determined to make him join the more he said no. They just wanted him to do something for them that would make them proud of him. The very thought made Sirius gag. He had no desire to be with them anymore. He just wished they would leave him alone about it. _

"_Well, well, well, if it isn't the misplaced Slytherin." Snape commented snidely as he walked in the opposite direction of Sirius. _

_The Animagus froze in his steps. He turned to watch Snape walking away from him with a frown. He was already irritated and needed something to let his frustration out on. And as usual, his target would be Snape, the filthy snake loving Slytherin. But as he looked out the nearby window, he didn't really have a lot of time to do anything. So he had to do something to let his stream out quickly so he wouldn't be mad when he headed to the Shrieking Shack. _

"_Hey Snape!" Sirius called._

_The Slytherin turned to him with a frown, eyes shining with regret for even saying anything to the Gryffindor. "What is it, Black?"_

"_You've been curious as to where we go every month right?" Sirius asked snidely. "Well, if you are so curious, go to the Whomping Willow and get a long stick to prod a knot at the bottom of the tree. That's where we go every month." _

_**I keep it caged but I can't control it**_

"_Oh god!" Sirius yelled a few minutes later when he was alone after Snape changed directions. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE?"_

_With his heart beating furiously against his chest, Sirius ran back down the hall to get back to Gryffindor Tower. He couldn't believe he just did that. Remus was like a brother to him and he went and sent Snape after him. If those two met! Oh god! He didn't even want to think of what could happen. _

_He yelled the password to the Fat Lady before he was even ten feet to it. The portrait swung open and Sirius was jumping in it, looking slightly crazy with sweat running down his face and his eyes searching all with a frantic fear in them. "JAMES!" He yelled, running over to James and Peter in a corner of the common room. The Gryffindors watched the usual happy and cool Marauder curiously. What could possible make him like this?_

_James looked up with a frown. "What is it? Is it time to go?"_

"_Damn it, James. I messed up." Sirius said, voice rising loudly. He realized it was doing that so he took a moment to gather himself, but not too long. There wasn't time. "I told Snape." _

"_Told Snape what?" James asked curiously. _

"_I told him how to get passed the Whomping Willow." Sirius said. _

_James's expression did a complete one eighty in a blink of an eye. He stood up so quickly that his chair was knocked over and the chess game he was playing went flying to the floor. Neither him nor Peter noticed as they were staring at Sirius. James's eyes were almost unrecognizably as they were so dark with anger. Sirius had never seen him this furious. "You did WHAT?" He yelled. "HOW THE HELL COULD YOU BE SO STUPID? OH WAIT! I KNOW! IT'S BECAUSE YOU NEVER THINK, YOU IDIOT! DO YOU EVEN HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS COULD BE?"_

"_I'm sorry! Okay, I'm sorry! I made a mistake! I'm telling you so we can fix it!" Sirius shouted, but he wasn't really into it. He knew he was wrong about what he did and deserved this. _

"_NOTHING! WE ARE DOING NOTHING! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH! I'LL FIX THIS!" James yelled angrily. His hand curled into a fist. Before he even realized what he was doing, his fist was flying into Sirius's face. _

_The only sound that could be heard in the common room was the sound of his fist connecting with his friend's face. Everyone was staring in shock at the two. Sirius fell onto his back on the ground, hand flying up to his face in shock. James was gone from the common room before Sirius even hit the ground. _

_James didn't know how he got there, but he found himself outside and near the Whomping Willow in no time. He was there in time to see Snape entering the hidden passage under the Whomping Willow. Heart beating against his ribcage so strong, James chased after him, eyes turning to the sky to see the sun almost gone. _

_**Cause if I let him out**__**  
><strong>__**He'll tear me up, break me down**_

_Remus, in so much pain, didn't see Snape in the Shrieking Shack. The Slytherin was frozen in shock and fear as he watched the transformation taking place. This couldn't be! No one in their right mind would allow a werewolf to come to Hogwarts. Lupin wasn't a werewolf!_

_The werewolf smelled prey the moment the transformation was complete. Never before had he smelled prey like this. His golden eyes locked onto Snape. An inhuman grin spread across his lips. Finally he would have his prey. He could finally enjoy the blood of human for the first time in his life. _

_The werewolf took one step towards his prey, but before he could take another, a hand appeared through the trapdoor and grabbed the robe of his prey. In a moment, the boy had yelled in shock as he was pulled down the trapdoor. _

"_We have to go." James's voice whispered hoarsely. _

_Snape stared at him. "You! This was all your idea!"_

"_Shut up!" James growled. He grabbed Snape by the arm and pulled him down the tunnel. They had to get out of here quickly. But as they were running, he heard a sound behind him that he wasn't expecting. It was the sound of feet smashing in the ground coming after them. _

_He had forgotten to close and lock the trapdoor!_

_**Why won't somebody come and save me from this**__**  
><strong>__**Make it end**_

_With all his strength, James pulled Snape and pushed him ahead of him without slowing down once. Snape had to get out here quickly. James had to slow down his friend. If he knew Remus, and he prided himself in knowing his friends, then he knew that Remus would rather be killed or something then to bite a student. _

_When he was sure that Snape would keep running, James pulled his wand out and fired a spell behind him. One good thing about the tunnel was that it was so narrow that he knew where the wolf would be without looking. _

_The footsteps stalled for a moment behind him before they started speeding up again. It hurt him to do, but James fired another spell at his friend. He knew that this is what Remus would want to be done so he wouldn't bite or kill anyone, but James hated it. He hated the idea of causing his best friend more pain than normal like this. But this was the only way that he could save Remus. He had to stop him to save him. _

_**I feel it deep within**__**  
><strong>__**It's just beneath the skin**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

_James fired another spell at his friend to stall him so he had time to climb out of the passage. He didn't slow down when he was out of it. To be honest, he had never faced Remus as a werewolf when he wasn't an animal. It was scary and he needed to get out of here. Ahead of him, he saw Snape running to the castle like the wind and followed after him. _

_Until he head howling behind him. He turned around, eyes wide with fear, when he saw that Remus had gotten out of the passage and was coming for him. His wand rose to fire another spell, mind silently hoping that no students were out on the lawn tonight. He was about to fire his spell when a big black dog appeared out of nowhere, tackling the werewolf to the ground. Just briefly the dog looked at him with a growl as if to say to run. _

_James didn't have a moment to feel proud for his friend for still showing up to help, even after he told him to stay away. He came to help them, despite James yelling at him and punching him. He truly did realize his mistake in all of this. James just hoped that he was truly sorry. _

_He was running back to the castle. As he ran he heard the sounds of a dog fighting a werewolf behind him. Growling, howling, and the sounds of bodies hitting the ground all met his ears as he ran. He severely hoped that Sirius could handle the werewolf on his own. _

_**I hate what I've become**__**  
><strong>__**The nightmare's just begun**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

_Amber eyes blinked opened, staring at the pristine white ceiling. For some reason his whole body was screaming at him whenever he tried to shift. It was nothing new for him to be in pain after the full moon, but recently there hasn't been a lot of pain because of his friends, but today, the pain he was feeling was something he hasn't felt in years. His whole body felt like it had been set on fire and the skin and muscle burnt away until it reached the bone. _

"_Moony!"_

_Suddenly James's face was over his, staring down at him worriedly. _

_Remus blinked again. "Wh–" He coughed violently when he tried to speak. His throat felt like acid from the burning in it. _

"_Here." Peter's voice said and Remus found a glass of water in front of him. _

_James helped him sit up and Peter put the glass to his lips to help him drink. _

_When his throat felt a bit less pain filled, Remus pushed the glass away and looked at James. "What happened last night?" He asked hoarsely. "And where's Padfoot?" _

_A dark look entered James's eyes. He looked at Peter before looking back down at Remus. "We have something to tell you." _

_**I feel it deep within**__**  
><strong>__**It's just beneath the skin**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**__**  
><strong>__**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**__**  
><strong>__**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**_

_Remus listened to his friends in horror as they recounted what had happened the night before. He almost bit one of his best friends and another student because of Sirius's idiotic, reckless nature! They could have been killed or have to deal with this horrid curse as well! They came so close to becoming monsters like him. _

_How could Sirius do this? _

_Sirius was supposed to be his best friend, someone he could trust with this secret!_

_How could he just so easily tell Snape, of all people, where to find him?_

_**Its hiding in the dark**__**  
><strong>__**Its teeth are razor sharp**__**  
><strong>__**There's no escape for me**__**  
><strong>__**It wants my soul it wants my heart**_

_Despite all the pain running its course through his body, Remus jumped off of the bed._

"_Remus! Wait!" Peter's and James's hands grabbed at his arms and shoulders to pull him back on the bed, but Remus just shoved them off and grabbed his clothes and wand off the end of the bed. He threw his clothes on, shoved his wand in his pocket, and stomped out of the Hospital Wing. _

_James and Peter shared a look before chasing after Remus. _

"_How could you?" Remus shouted when he threw their bedroom door open and found Sirius lying on his bed, nursing quite a few injuries himself. _

"_Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, pushing himself up with some trouble. "You shouldn't be out of the Hospital Wing." _

"_DON'T!" Remus yelled angrily. His voice dropped. "Do not try to act like you care about me, Black. Not after what you did." _

_Sirius's eyes widened. He looked at James and Peter, who were standing behind Remus, both looking worried. _

"_How could you?" Remus demanded. "I trusted you! You swore to help me keep my secret! You swore to never tell a single soul about me. And yet you went and told Snape how to get passed the Whomping Willow? What the hell did you think would happen after you did that?" He glared angrily at Sirius. "No, don't answer." He snapped when Sirius opened his mouth. "The answer is that you didn't think because you didn't care at all! You never cared! All you saw when you learned about me was another reckless, dangerous adventure! That's all this EVER WAS!" Remus spun around and pushed through the shell shocked James and Peter. At the door, he paused. "I trusted you, damn it!" He looked over his shoulder, glaring at Sirius. "And that was my first mistake." He spat. _

_**No one can hear me scream**__**  
><strong>__**Maybe it's just a dream**__**  
><strong>__**Maybe its inside of me**__**  
><strong>__**Stop this monster**_

"_Moony!"_

_Remus froze in the corridor and whipped around to glare at Sirius. "Don't call me that, Black. Only my friends get to call me that." _

_Sirius stopped next to Remus, glaring into his amber orbs. After a moment, he looked away to look around at all the students that were in the hallway heading to class. Not wanting to be overheard, he grabbed Remus's arm and dragged him down the hall. _

"_Let go, Black." Remus growled, trying to pull his arm free. _

"_No." Sirius snarled. _

"_I'm going to be late to class." Remus said. _

"_Forget class, damn it." Sirius snapped before pushing Remus into an empty classroom. He slammed the door behind him and put a silencing charm on the door. He looked back at Remus, who had his arms crossed and was glaring at Sirius. "I heard you out a week ago and didn't get a word in. I gave you a week to calm down. Now you are going to listen to me, Mo–Remus."_

"_There is nothing I want to he–"Remus started. _

"_No, you're going to shut up and listen." Sirius snapped. "I know I made a mistake. I should have never told Snape about that passageway or to head there, but it's like you said, I wasn't thinking about the consequences. I was frustrated and upset about a letter from my parents and spoke without thinking." _

_Remus snorted. "That's not a good reason, Black." _

"_I never said it was." Sirius retorted. "And I told you to be quiet." _

_Scowling, Remus moved over to a desk and sat on top of it, glaring silently at the wall. _

"_I made a mistake, Remus. It's not the first time I made one and it most certainly won't be the last. I know I hurt you greatly by telling Snape about the Whomping Willow, and I accept that and the fact that you are mad at me, probably even hate me. But what I do not accept is that you said I never cared! Your curse is not just a game to me! I never treated it as such. Those words hurt me more then anything else you said."_

"_Moony, you can trust me. I'll never betray you again." _

_**I feel it deep within**__**  
><strong>__**It's just beneath the skin**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I **__**(feel like a monster)**__**- **__**growled**_

When Remus growled that part, he also jumped onto the end of the Gryffindor table causing\ the other three Marauders had to bite back laughs at the shocked looks the older students were wearing and the scared ones the younger students had. No one was really expecting that from Remus Lupin, the "good" Marauder after all.

Remus stood up straight on the table and continued singing with his guitar hanging on his back.

_**I hate what I've become**__**  
><strong>__**The nightmare's just begun**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

Remus, for pure amusement, started walking down the table as he sang. He gave some of the girls he paused a charming smile that made them blush. Remus didn't care about popularity, but being friends with James and Sirius and being a Marauder did have its perks.

_**I feel it deep within**__**  
><strong>__**It's just beneath the skin**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**__**  
><strong>__**I've gotta lose control**__**  
><strong>__**It's something radical**__**  
><strong>__**I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

Like before, James jumped in and started singing the next part with Remus. When he saw Lily staring at him, he couldn't help but shoot her a wink, which made her scowl and turn her attention back to Remus.

Remus stopped in front of Lily and her friends. He crouched down on the table as he sang, eyes flashing in amusement when Lily rolled her eyes at him.

_**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**__**  
><strong>__**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**__**  
><strong>__**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**__**  
><strong>__**I, I feel like a monster (James and Remus)**_

As he finished the last line, Remus jumped into the air and landed on his feet so he was standing up.

The teachers and students, including a few Slytherins, burst into applause. Most of the Slytherins scowled or just stubbornly kept their eyes on their dinner.

"Well, who would have guessed? Remus can actually sing!" Fabian Prewett, a seventh year Gryffindor, shouted gleefully, giving the werewolf a teasing wink.

Remus rolled his eyes and smirked at the twins.

James turned to his friends and grinned. "Did you see that? Evans looked at me!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "When will you get over your Evans obsession?"

James glared at him. "Just you wait. She will fall in love with me one day!"

Peter snorted. "The day that she will ever love you is the day the world ends."

"I thought the world was going to end the day that Padfoot actually agreed with his family's beliefs." Remus said as he climbed back onto the stage.

Peter nodded. "Good point. I guess it's whichever one that happens first."

James and Sirius looked at each other with scowls. "Gits."

**A/N: So this was just something I wanted to try. Plus I just really like this song and it really makes me think of Remus. Tell me if you liked this and I'll write a couple more ones like this. **

**Please Review!**


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